Iraq makes $412 mn payment to Kurdistan region: minister

[WorldNews]

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Baghdad is sending a payment of $412 million to Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, a sign that a budget deal between the two sides is still on track, the finance minister said Thursday. "A decision has been taken by the government and the finance ministry to send a payment worth... 490 billion Iraqi dinars ($412 million/389 million euros) to the KRG (Kurdistan Regional Government) to cover actual expenses for February," Hoshyar Zebari told AFP. The payment includes funding for the Kurdish peshmerga security forces, who are battling the Islamic State group that overran large areas north and west of Baghdad last year, Zebari said. Baghdad and Kurdistan had reached a deal under which the three-province region would export 250,000 barrels of oil per day and 300,000 bpd from disputed Kirkuk province, while the federal government would release the region's share of national revenue.

 

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