A “liquidity and distance” crisis: Erbil employees and retirees face renewed hardship with the Islamic Bank.
A “liquidity and distance” crisis: Erbil employees and retirees face renewed hardship with the Islamic Bank.
2026-02-13 00:48
Shafaq News – Erbil
Employees and retirees in Erbil expressed their dissatisfaction on Friday with what they described as the “deterioration” of banking services provided by the Iraqi Islamic Bank for Investment and Development in Erbil, coinciding with the release of monthly salaries by the Ministry of Finance and Economy in the Kurdistan Region.
Retirees told Shafaq News Agency that when the Kurdistan Ministry of Finance and Economy announces the release of monthly salaries, their suffering begins with the rapid depletion of cash from the bank’s ATMs, forcing beneficiaries to visit the bank’s main building, which cannot accommodate the influx of visitors.
They added that there are three ATMs in all of Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region, and they are far from the route of passenger buses in remote areas, which forces beneficiaries (especially retirees) who do not own cars to hire a private taxi and repeatedly visit the ATMs in order to receive their financial entitlements, which are often empty due to the lack of cash.
Despite the Kurdistan Region Ministry of Finance recently announcing the release of salaries, retirees said that they went to the three ATMs two days ago, and despite the difficulty of going to them due to the distances, they were empty and there was no cash in them, so they returned empty-handed.
Employees and retirees in Erbil, through our agency, appealed to the Kurdistan Regional Government to respond to their repeated problems with the Islamic Bank for Investment and Development in obtaining their financial entitlements.
The Ministry of Finance and Economy of the Kurdistan Regional Government announced last Tuesday that the federal government had deposited the salaries of the region’s employees for January of this year, but the amount was “deficient” by more than 36 billion dinars.
Later on Tuesday, the Federal Ministry of Finance responded to the Kurdistan Finance Ministry’s statement regarding the shortage of funds for employee salaries for January of this year, indicating that the financial differences will be disbursed properly when the 2026 budget tables are prepared.
The Federal Ministry of Finance explained in a statement received by Shafaq News Agency that “the financing procedures were carried out based on the legal and financial contexts in force in the Iraqi state, where the amounts were released in accordance with the legally approved disbursement circular (1/12), which stipulates the disbursement of funds to employees and retirees who are registered and actually present in the lists approved by the Ministry.”
The Kurdistan Ministry of Finance reiterated yesterday that the shortfall in funding for January salaries is due to the Federal Ministry of Finance not sending the full amounts, stressing that the responsibility for any deductions or delays during the past three years lies with Baghdad.
shafaq.com
