Wednesday, December 29th 2010
Iraq's 2011 budget bill back to govt for amendment due to disputes
Baghdad, Iraq's 2011 budget bill will be returned to government for modifications before being passed to the Iraqi parliament for the first reading in January, a Kurdish MP said.
The Kurds objected to the draft budget because it did not clearly contain provisions for the budgets of the Kurdish forces known as Peshmarga, and the regional government were not satisfied with their share of the budget.
"There is an agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to amend the current budget," said Mahmoud Othman.
Peshmarga, or the Kurdistan Regional Guards, are recognized in the Iraqi constitution as regular forces. The dispute over the Peshmarga forces is who would pay them, the Iraqi government of the regional government?
The Kurds insist that the Peshmarga forces, being regular Iraqi forces, have to be paid by the Iraqi government, Baghdad in turn want them be paid by the Kurdish region from their 17 percent in the Iraqi budget.
Another issue is that the Iraqi government has included in the budget a provision binding the KRG to export 150,000 bpd or it would be cut from the 17 percent of the region's budget share accordingly.
KBC MPs boycotted a parliament session on Nov. 18 protesting the budget bill that commits the region to the 150,000 bpd export.
Baghdad says based on such an agreement - 150,000 bpd of oil exports from Kurdistan - it will agree to pay the shares of the oil companies operating in Kurdistan which was one of the hanging issues between the central and regional governments.
The Iraqi government's binding condition stems from, according to Iraqi officials, a statement last month by the KRG Minister of Natural Resource Ashti Hawarmi who said Kurdistan could export 200,000 bdp.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/206445/
Iraq's 2011 budget bill back to govt for amendment due to disputes
Baghdad, Iraq's 2011 budget bill will be returned to government for modifications before being passed to the Iraqi parliament for the first reading in January, a Kurdish MP said.
The Kurds objected to the draft budget because it did not clearly contain provisions for the budgets of the Kurdish forces known as Peshmarga, and the regional government were not satisfied with their share of the budget.
"There is an agreement between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to amend the current budget," said Mahmoud Othman.
Peshmarga, or the Kurdistan Regional Guards, are recognized in the Iraqi constitution as regular forces. The dispute over the Peshmarga forces is who would pay them, the Iraqi government of the regional government?
The Kurds insist that the Peshmarga forces, being regular Iraqi forces, have to be paid by the Iraqi government, Baghdad in turn want them be paid by the Kurdish region from their 17 percent in the Iraqi budget.
Another issue is that the Iraqi government has included in the budget a provision binding the KRG to export 150,000 bpd or it would be cut from the 17 percent of the region's budget share accordingly.
KBC MPs boycotted a parliament session on Nov. 18 protesting the budget bill that commits the region to the 150,000 bpd export.
Baghdad says based on such an agreement - 150,000 bpd of oil exports from Kurdistan - it will agree to pay the shares of the oil companies operating in Kurdistan which was one of the hanging issues between the central and regional governments.
The Iraqi government's binding condition stems from, according to Iraqi officials, a statement last month by the KRG Minister of Natural Resource Ashti Hawarmi who said Kurdistan could export 200,000 bdp.
http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/2/206445/
