Iraq’s Parliament Approves Budget, Ending Dispute Over Oil Revenue Sharing with Kurdish Region 

Iraqi lawmakers attend a parliamentary session to vote on the federal budget at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, June 11, 2023. (Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi lawmakers attend a parliamentary session to vote on the federal budget at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, June 11, 2023. (Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
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Iraq’s Parliament Approves Budget, Ending Dispute Over Oil Revenue Sharing with Kurdish Region 

Iraqi lawmakers attend a parliamentary session to vote on the federal budget at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, June 11, 2023. (Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via Reuters)
Iraqi lawmakers attend a parliamentary session to vote on the federal budget at the parliament headquarters in Baghdad, Iraq, June 11, 2023. (Iraqi Parliament Media Office/Handout via Reuters)

Iraq’s parliament belatedly approved a record $152 billion budget for 2023 on Monday, after months of wrangling over the sharing of oil revenue between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region in the north.

The process was also hampered by infighting between different Iraqi Kurdish parties. The budget — approved six months into the fiscal year and after four chaotic late-night voting sessions — allocates 12.6% of the revenue to the Kurdish region and is seen as strengthening Baghdad's hand on the oil revenues.

The central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in the city of Erbil have been locked in a dispute over oil revenue for years, while competing Kurdish parties are also at loggerheads over their shares.

In the absence of a binding law detailing the sharing of funds from oil and gas exports, the Kurdish region has moved ahead with exports on its own, while Baghdad has maintained that all exports should be run through the state-owned oil marketing company, SOMO, with Erbil receiving a share of the profits.

Under the new budget, the Kurdish region can market its own oil but must deposit the revenue in a bank account that officials from the central government can monitor. Baghdad will then deduct that amount from its monthly allocation to the Kurdish regional government and transfer any surplus money to Erbil.

The budget vote was dragged out over several days, in part due to objections by the largest Kurdish party, the Kurdistan Democratic Party, to the provisions on the revenue sharing process and a related dispute resolution mechanism.

The majority coalition holds the most seats in the 329-seat Iraqi parliament, with 220 seats. The Kurds, who are the second-largest ethnic group in Iraq, have about 60 seats, but they are divided between two main parties: the KDP and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), which are often at odds.

The finalization of the budget on Monday was a victory for Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani's government, which was formed last year following a lengthy political vacuum in the wake of the 2021 elections.

Al-Sudani came to power with the support of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of pro-Iranian parties, after the influential Shiite cleric and political leader Moqtada al-Sadr — whose party had won the largest share of seats but not enough to form a government — withdrew from politics.

Paralyzed by the political stalemate, the parliament did not pass a budget last year. With a budget now in place for 2023, al-Sudani’s government is hoping to combat poverty and bring much-needed economic stability.

However, some analysts say the budget is predicated on an overly rosy outlook and warned of a ballooning deficit.

The budget projects 2023 revenue at about $103.3 billion, based on a projected price of $70 per barrel for oil exports, the main source of income for Iraq, with exports estimated at 3.5 million barrels a day, including 400,000 thousand barrels from the Kurdish region. The budget estimates a deficit of about $48 billion.

“The new budget is a cause for concern, as it relies heavily on oil revenue,” said Mudhar Mohammed Salih, al-Sudani’s adviser for financial affairs. “If oil prices drop, the deficit will increase, forcing the government to borrow money. This is a risky proposition, as it could lead to debt problems.”

A report last month by the International Monetary Fund on Iraq's finances warned that the “fiscal loosening” proposed in the budget plan could lead to inflation and exchange rate volatility in the short run, while in the medium term, oil price fluctuations could lead to "critical macroeconomic stability risks.”

“Barring a large increase in oil prices, the current fiscal stance could lead to mounting deficits and intensifying financing pressures in the coming years,” the report said.

Monday’s vote also approved the same budgets of $152 billion for 2024 and 2025 — apparently to avoid haggling over the issue for the next two years.

The parliament session came after an unannounced visit to Iraq by Iranian general Esmail Ghaani, according to two Iraqi Shiite political officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on the visit.

Ghaani heads the Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, an expeditionary arm of the paramilitary organization answerable only to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. He replaced top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, killed in a US airstrike in Baghdad in January 2020.

The two officials said Ghaani left Baghdad on Thursday evening, shortly before the parliament convened in its first late-night session to begin voting on the budget.



UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
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UN Says ‘Deliberate’ Choices ‘Systematically’ Depriving Gazans

04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)
04 June 2025, Palestinian Territories, Nusirat: Displaced Palestinians gather in a charity kitchen to receive aid amid a shortage of food, in Nuseirat refugee camp. (Belal Abu Amer/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa)

The UN aid chief said Wednesday that recent "horrifying scenes" of Gazans being killed while seeking food aid were the result of "deliberate choices that have systematically deprived" them of essentials to survive.

A US and Israeli-backed group operating aid sites in the Gaza Strip announced the temporary closure of its facilities on Wednesday, with the Israeli army warning that roads leading to distribution centers were "considered combat zones".

The announcement by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation follows a string of deadly incidents near the distribution sites it operates.

On Tuesday, 27 people were killed in southern Gaza when Israeli troops opened fire near a GHF aid site, with the military saying the incident was under investigation.

"The world is watching, day after day, horrifying scenes of Palestinians being shot, wounded or killed in Gaza while simply trying to eat," UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.

"Emergency medical teams have confirmed treating hundreds of trauma cases. Yesterday alone, dozens were declared dead at hospitals after Israeli forces said they had opened fire.

"This is the outcome of a series of deliberate choices that have systematically deprived two million people of the essentials they need to survive."

He echoed the call by UN chief Antonio Guterres for immediate independent investigations, saying they were not isolated incidents, and the perpetrators must be held accountable.

"No-one should have to risk their life to feed their children," said Fletcher.

The GHF began operations a week ago, but the UN and major aid groups have refused to cooperate with it over concerns it was designed to cater to Israeli military objectives.

Meanwhile the United Nations has described the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, after Israel partially lifted a more than two-month total blockade, as a trickle.

"We must be allowed to do our jobs: we have the teams, the plan, the supplies and the experience," said Fletcher, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.

"Open the crossings -- all of them. Let in life-saving aid at scale, from all directions. Lift the restrictions on what and how much aid we can bring in.

"Ensure our convoys aren't held up by delays and denials. Release the hostages. Implement the ceasefire."