Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani has announced that the government will start distributing February salaries.
Barzani, during a press conference, thanked the Kurdish people for their resistance and patience.
He said the Ministry of Finance has ordered the distribution of salaries for the month of February, as well as the preparation for salary distribution for March and subsequent months.
He stated the Iraqi federal government has a constitutional and moral responsibility to fulfill its promise to provide salaries, and that the duties of the Kurdistan Region over the matter have been fulfilled, adding the Ministry of Finance and the Council of Ministers have been instructed to take all measures to prevent a repeat of excuses over the issue.
The prime minister said the KRG has shouldered its part of the responsibility and that he hopes to reach a new stage in distributing salaries on time.
The Council of Ministers has made some other decisions in the interest of the Kurdish people, Barzani noted, to ease the economic difficulties, therefore the Ministry of Municipalities and Tourism will begin allocating land to employees who have not yet benefited from the government.
He said the KRG demanded a 20 percent discount on accumulated electricity debts, a 20 percent discount on accumulated traffic fines, a 50 percent discount on meat import fees, and a 20 percent discount on parallel education fees in public universities and institutes.
Regarding other decisions, Barzani said the KRG has requested an exemption on the penalty for late participation in social security and the KRG has instructed the Ministry of Municipalities to reduce the accumulated water fees by 20 percent, to reduce municipal fees by 20 percent, and an exemption from late tax penalties for professional merchants and those in poverty.
