Kurdistan: Vicious Cycle of Rising Fuel Prices

A gas processing plant run by Dana Gas in the Kurdistan Region. (Photo: Reuters)
A gas processing plant run by Dana Gas in the Kurdistan Region. (Photo: Reuters)
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Kurdistan: Vicious Cycle of Rising Fuel Prices

A gas processing plant run by Dana Gas in the Kurdistan Region. (Photo: Reuters)
A gas processing plant run by Dana Gas in the Kurdistan Region. (Photo: Reuters)

For the past three decades and during the same season, residents of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region suffer from a hike in fuel and oil prices in the local market.

And same as each year, the authorities pledge to resolve the crisis.

However, the problem keeps aggravating. And this year it’s close to becoming a dilemma that might have no solution in the near future.

As the season of rain and cold approaches in the Kurdistan Region, known for its fierce winters, prices of fuel and its derivatives registered a steep increase. The price of one liter of gasoline reached around $1, while in the capital Baghdad and other Iraqi provinces it’s less than 50 cent.

Also, the price of kerosene jumped to $110 and is expected to increase further with the beginning of the snow season.

Erbil Mayor Nabaz Abdulhamid told Asharq Al-Awsat on Wednesday that the rise in fuel prices is mainly due to the lack of direct government subsidies on petroleum products, which subject them to competition and to the principle of demand and supply.

“The repercussions of the severe economic crisis in the Kurdistan Region, caused by the war on ISIS and cutting the region’s financial share from the Iraqi public budget for the past five years, forced the government to eliminate its support for fuel derivatives,” Abdulhamid said.

The mayor added that any increase in the price of fuel is also linked to the price of crude oil in the global markets.

“The government of the Kurdsitan Region is currently coordinating with the Iraqi Oil Ministry to supply residents living in the mountainous areas, with fuel,” he said.

Zubeir Abdulrazak, 39, who sells fuel at an Erbil’s market, said the price of fuel and oil derivatives increased mainly because Iranian authorities prevented the arrival of oil derivatives to the Kurdistan Region due to the dire economic situation inside Iran and the inability of dealers to import fuel from other countries caused by rising costs.



Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Aid to Gaza 'Facing Total Collapse', Warn 12 NGOs

 A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy looks through a hole in the wall into a damaged room after an Israeli strike on a school housing displaced Palestinians in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip on April 17, 2025. (AFP)

The humanitarian aid system in Gaza is "facing total collapse" because of Israel's blockade on aid supplies since March 2, the heads of 12 major aid organizations warned Thursday, urging Israel to let them "do our jobs".

Israel has vowed to maintain its blockage on humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged territory, saying it is the only way to force Hamas to release the 58 hostages still held there.

"Every single person in Gaza is relying on humanitarian aid to survive," the chief executives of 12 NGOs, including Oxfam and Save the Children, wrote in a joint statement.

"That lifeline has been completely cut off since a blockade on all aid supplies was imposed by Israeli authorities on March 2," they said, adding that "This is one of the worst humanitarian failures of our generation."

A survey of 43 international and Palestinian aid organizations working in Gaza found that almost all have suspended or drastically cut services since a ceasefire ended on March 18, "with widespread and indiscriminate bombing making it extremely dangerous to move around", the NGOs said.

"Famine is not just a risk, but likely rapidly unfolding in almost all parts of Gaza," they said. "Survival itself is now slipping out of reach and the humanitarian system is at breaking point."

"We call on all parties to guarantee the safety of our staff and to allow the safe, unfettered access of aid into and across Gaza through all entry points, and for world leaders to oppose further restrictions."

Israel's renewed assault has killed at least 1,691 people in Gaza, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, bringing the overall toll since the war erupted to 51,065, most of them civilians.

Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, also mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.