“We have reached an agreement with the federal government to send the names of the members of the forces and the security forces,” Talabani told journalists in Sulaimani.
The full list of names will arrive in Baghdad on Saturday or Sunday, he said.
Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court in February ordered the KRG to submit a breakdown of the monthly budget for its employee salaries to the finance ministry so Baghdad could start paying them from the federal budget.
Baghdad sent funds to cover civil servant salaries for the first five months of 2024, but it excluded the security sector for April and May, because of the KRG’s reluctance to send a detailed list of names and numbers of its forces.
Talabani said that a committee has been established from the financial auditing teams of both sides to monitor the procedures.
The KRG has failed to pay the salaries of its civil servants on time and in full for a decade due to a financial crisis which deteriorated when a ruling by a Paris-based arbitration court suspended its export of oil to the international markets over a year ago. The Kurdish government now relies on local income and its controversial share from the federal budget.
Erbil has repeatedly accused Baghdad of not making regular payments of its share of federal funds, which is 12.6 percent of the federal budget. Baghdad has claimed it has fully implemented its financial obligations to the KRG, including through loans to assist the Region in meeting its payroll.
