Baghdad makes more concessions to Erbil on budget share

The KRG has transferred customs revenues to Baghdad for the first time. However, the figures are a gross underestimate of what the KRG is actually generating.

The KRG announced yesterday that it had deposited 85 billion IQD to the Finance Ministry’s account in the Central Bank, representing 50% of its revenues from customs and tariffs for the month of February. It also plans to deposit revenues for March next week.

This transfer of funds is in accordance with the Federal Supreme Court’s February ruling, which insists on the KRG handing over oil and non-oil revenues to Baghdad. The federal budget law requires the KRG and provinces under federal control to hand over all oil revenues to Baghdad, as well as half of the revenues generated from border crossings.

However, the KRG claims that it generates between 120 to 150 billion IQD from customs each month, a gross underestimate of the real figure. The KRG has never openly disclosed how much it really makes from its six official border crossings with Iran and Turkey, namely, the Haji Omaran crossing in Erbil, Bashmakh in Sulaimaniya, Parvizkhan in Garmiyan, Shushme in Halabja, Ibrahim Khalil in Zakho, and Zet in Barzan. There are also many unofficial border points.