The budget is on the verge of being presented to parliament… Disputes over allocations bring the Kurdistan issue back to the forefront.
The budget is on the verge of being presented to parliament… Disputes over allocations bring the Kurdistan issue back to the forefront.
9-28-2026
Information/Report…
The situation has become more complex with the escalation of tensions in the region due to the American-Zionist war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. This has caused a major crisis in Iraq following the decline in oil exports, on which Iraq relies heavily for its expenditures. As the crisis and tensions intensified, the Ministry of Finance announced the completion of the budget and its submission to the Ministerial Council for the Economy, which then forwarded it to the Council of Ministers. Meanwhile, parliamentary circles are warning of increasing demands from various political blocs to include certain provisions in the budget, which is contingent on the availability of funds.
Former member of the Parliamentary Finance Committee, Abdul Hadi Al-Saadawi, told Al-Maalouma, “Iraq has been operating on a three-year budget, but the absence of an annual budget for the current and previous years has led to continued spending based on a 1/12 system. This necessitates a budget for 2027 to ensure the legal basis for government spending and its continuation.”
He added, “None of the demands being made can be met at present without financial liquidity, especially given the severe financial crisis affecting various countries worldwide, and Iraq in particular, due to the ongoing conflict in the region and its detrimental impact on oil exports, which are the mainstay of the state.”
He explained that “the Kurdistan Region receives more than its allocated share of government expenditures, and they also receive other entitlements despite not having paid their outstanding oil revenues and border crossing fees.” He stressed the necessity of “resolving the oil issue with Kurdistan and settling the revenue problem in the region. Furthermore, Kurdistan’s employees should be subject to the federal Ministry of Finance so that their allocations are included in the budget, thus ensuring the separation of the Kurdistan Region’s operational budget, which would then be under the responsibility of the federal Ministry of Finance.”
For his part, Maysar al-Shammari, a leader in the Hikma Movement, confirmed to Al-Maalomah that “the budget will reach Parliament on the ninth of next month, and it is the first of its kind in the history of the Iraqi state to be based on programs and performance.”
He added that “some Kurdish parties have technical reservations regarding the budget, as they seek to increase the region’s share of allocations, while the new budget will not differ from its predecessors in terms of the region’s percentage.”
He pointed out that “the House of Representatives can pass the budget whether the Kurdish blocs agree or not, despite the Coordination Framework’s keenness to pass the budget by consensus, given that it is one of the important laws that affects the lives and livelihoods of citizens.”
In a related context, economic expert Dr. Safwan Qusay explained to Al-Maalomah that “there are multiple assumptions regarding next year’s budget, as everyone hopes that the existing disputes and tensions in the region related to the Strait of Hormuz will be resolved before October 15th, since Iraq relies on oil revenues collected from its southern ports for 90 percent of its income.”
He continued, “If the tensions persist and the problem remains unresolved, Iraq will move towards spending governed by permanent laws, with the necessity of bolstering the revenues of government units so that they can finance themselves independently of the Ministry of Finance.”
The Ministerial Council for the Economy confirmed yesterday, Sunday, that it had reviewed the draft federal budget law for the Republic of Iraq for the fiscal year 2027, which was submitted urgently in accordance with the Ministry of Finance’s letter No. 50517 dated September 26, 2006. The Council recommended that the draft federal budget law be referred to the Council of Ministers, taking into consideration the observations of its members.
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