ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region’s ruling Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) on Monday revealed that there have been “positive indications” from Baghdad to resolve the issue of the Region’s civil servant salaries. 

During a meeting of the party’s central committee chaired by President Masoud Barzani, the KDP reiterated the need to resolve outstanding budget issues with Baghdad and ensure the Kurdistan Region civil servants are not deprived from their salaries, according to a statement from the party on Monday.

“After the positive indications from the [Iraqi] federal government and the judiciary to solve the problem, we advocate for solving the problems and ending this unfair treatment of the livelihoods of employees and salaried workers in Kurdistan,” the statement added.

In a letter addressed to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) last week, Iraqi Finance Minister Taif Sami said that they are “unable to continue funding the Region,” arguing that the Region has exceeded its 12.67 percent share of the annual budget, totaling 13.5 trillion dinars.

Sami claimed that from 2023 until April 2025, the Kurdistan Region had handed over only 598.5 billion dinars out of its total combined oil and non-oil revenues of 19.9 trillion dinars.

The letter prompted a meeting of over 40 parties in the Kurdistan Region on Saturday to discuss next steps. The parties described Baghdad’s move as a “political” decision in a joint statement, a stance that was commended by the KDP in Monday’s statement.

Civil servants in the Kurdistan Region have borne the brunt of a long-standing budgetary conflict between the Iraqi government and the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). Economic sanctions and pressure on Erbil by federal authorities have forced employees in the Region to live from paycheck to paycheck.