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Iraq transfers 500 mln USD to Kurds on budget dispute

19 November 2014 21:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Iraqi government has transferred some 500 million U.S. dollars to the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan as part of an agreement over resolving the budget dispute on oil exports, finance minister said on Wednesday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday transferred the amount of 583 billion Iraqi dinars, which equals 500 million U.S. dollars, to the account of the regional government of Kurdistan, in accordance with the deal struck recently between the federal government and Kurdistan regional government," Finance Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a news conference in Baghdad, adding that other payments would be following.

On Nov. 13, the Iraqi Minister of Oil Adel Abdul Mahdi, a Shite, and the Kurdish regional had reached an agreement to ease the tensions between the governments of Baghdad and Kurdistan.

Under the agreement, the regional authority on Tuesday started to pump 150,000 barrels a day of crude oil to the federal oil tanks in the Turkish port of Ceyhan

Baghdad has long been opposing the Kurdish region's independent export of oil, while Kurdish leaders have sharply criticized Baghdad for suspending the annual budget payments to the region.

The oil deal was seen as an important achievement for the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and his government, particularly, both Baghdad and the Kurdish region have been fighting the Islamic State (IS) extremist group which seized large areas in the country since June.

However, observers see that the deal is yet to be seen as the end of the long-running dispute between the central and regional governments, but a beginning for tough negotiations in the future.

Zebari also said that "more political and technical talks are coming between the two sides to reach practical and real solutions in accordance with the constitution over the mutual dues of the region and the federal government."