ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The Kurdistan Region's cabinet is set to hold a meeting on Wednesday to discuss ways to ensure that Baghdad adheres to the results of a late 2024 census regarding Erbil's share of the federal budget.

During the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Council of Ministers meeting, “the issue of the Iraqi population census conducted on November 20 and 21, 2024," particularly in relation to the Kurdistan Region's share of Iraq's budget, will be discussed, according to a KRG statement.

In late 2024, Iraq conducted its first population and housing census, to also include the Kurdistan Region, in nearly four decades.

The statement said that the Kurdistan Region officially made up 14.1 percent of Iraq's total population of 46 million, according to the census. "The Council of Ministers is following up to ensure the federal government adheres to these census results for the purpose of determining the Kurdistan Region's share of the budget."

Budget and salaries, along with domestic revenues and oil exports, have been the focal point of contention between Erbil and Baghdad for years.

Disagreements over budget, the management of oil exports, and domestic revenues have seen Baghdad refuse to fund the Region's civil servants' salaries for months. The Iraqi government has refused to pay seven salaries of the Kurdistan Region's public sector, including November and December of last year.

KRG spokesperson Peshawa Hawramani said in mid-January that Erbil is focused on discussions of the Kurdistan Region's share of the Iraqi budget, as opposed to individual salaries.

"Until now, what has been allocated to the Kurdistan Region has been far, far less than its legal and constitutional right," Hawramani said after a cabinet meeting last month.

Erbil and Baghdad came to an agreement in September to alleviate some of their budgetary disputes and ensure that civilians do not bear the brunt of it, with the KRG agreeing to export its oil through Iraq's oil marketing firm (SOMO), and to hand over 120 billion dinars every month as Baghdad's share of the Region's non-oil revenues, in exchange for monthly dues of the Kurdistan Region's civil servants.

"This is in addition to the Kurdistan Regional Government's emphasis on implementing the prior agreement between both governments in accordance with the decisions of the Federal Council of Ministers," the statement further read, referencing the September agreement.

Though initially set to expire at the end of 2025, Hawramani in January said that the agreement will automatically renew should neither side object to it.

The KRG spokesperson said at the time that budget discussions will be held after the formation of Iraq's next government. The government formation process, however, has faced roadbumps, amid uncertainties regarding candidates for the posts of Iraq's president and prime minister