Sudani held a meeting with relevant officials from his cabinet about the salaries of the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) civil servants in Baghdad.
He “affirmed the implementation of the Federal Supreme Court's decision issued on February 21, 2024, which mandated the federal government and the regional government to complete the procedures for payroll direct deposit for public sector employees working within the Kurdistan Region. He also reviewed the implementation procedures with the Central Bank of Iraq and government banks,” read a statement from his office.
The prime minister also “emphasized the need to expedite the completion of employee data registration in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and to avoid any delays in depositing their salaries. He stated that the federal government is committed to caring for employees from all parts of Iraq and ensuring their rights, as stipulated by law and the constitution,” added the statement.
The Iraqi Supreme Federal Court in February ruled that Baghdad should pay the salaries of KRG employees, ordering “localization” of the salaries. It later allowed the federal government to continue the payment of the KRG employees in cash until the digitization process was completed.
Six private banks are involved in offering digital banking services to the KRG’s over a million public employees. The federal government has shouldered the payment of the employees since the beginning of this year but has yet to agree to continue the process through the KRG initiative, known as My Account. Baghdad wants to apply its own banking initiative, Tawtin (localization).
Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI), which is owned by the Iraqi government, has said it would start offering banking services to the KRG public employees. The KRG has sent two lists of its civil servants to the bank in this regard.
The KRG claims that the TBI has joined its My Account initiative, but the federal bank has not confirmed this. Instead, it uses the word “Tawtin” in its statements. KRG officials have campaigned against “Tawtin,” claiming that their own initiative includes more offers.
