Iraqi Kurdistan leader criticises cut in share of federal budget

The Iraqi parliament's approval of a federal budget that cuts allocations for Kurdistan is a blow to regional partnership, the autonomous region's Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani said at the weekend.

"It is unfortunate that principles of partnership and consensus have been ignored," Barzani said at a press conference in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. "If we want to have an Iraq that is stable, it will not be resolved through strong against weak, but through dialogue," he added.

His remarks came a day after the Iraqi legislature in Baghdad voted in favour of a 104-trillion-dinar (88-billion-dollar) federal budget bill that cuts allocations for Kurdistan to 12.6 percent in 2018, from 17 percent the previous year.

Kurdish lawmakers in the Iraqi parliament boycotted the vote in protest of the funding cut.

The Iraqi government said the allocations in the budget are commensurate with Kurdistan's population of 5.2 million.

Baghdad and Erbil have been at odds since Kurdistan and disputed areas controlled by Kurdish forces held a unilateral independence vote in September. Baghdad responded with sanctions on Kurdistan, including a ban on international flights to and from the territory.

Iraqi forces took over the oil-producing city of Kirkuk following the withdrawal of Kurdistan's peshmerga forces in October.

The measures have aggravated economic problems in landlocked Kurdistan, which late last year saw mass protests over a lack of services and delayed payment of salaries in the territory.    (dpa)