In a significant countermove following the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) recent energy agreements in Washington, the Iraqi Finance Ministry has announced that it has already fulfilled its full budgetary obligation to the KRG for 2025. As a result, it claims that no further funds will be allocated for the region’s salaries over the remaining eight months of the year.

The ministry bases its position on the three-year federal budget law passed for 2023–2025, which allocates 12.67% of the federal budget to the KRG—conditional on the Region handing over 400,000 barrels of oil per day and 50% of its non-oil revenues. Citing a recent federal audit, the ministry argues that when combining the oil revenues retained by the KRG, the non-oil revenues not transferred to Baghdad, and the monthly salary payments already sent by Baghdad, the KRG’s entire 12.67% share for the three-year period has effectively been covered.

This notification was delivered to the KRG’s representative in Baghdad and obtained by Kurdish opposition MP Soran Omar, who serves on the Iraqi Parliament’s Finance Committee.

The timing of this move appears to be a direct response to the KRG Prime Minister’s energy agreements in Washington, which were made without consulting the federal government. It also comes in the wake of public remarks by KDP President Masoud Barzani, who warned Baghdad against delays in sending salary payments to the Kurdistan Region.