Kurdistan’s Oil Lifeline at Risk as Baghdad Payments Fall Short Again

Kurdistan’s Oil Lifeline at Risk as Baghdad Payments Fall Short Again

The Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) is once again edging toward a fiscal breaking point. Officials in its Erbil-based semi-autonomous regional government (KRG) say they are receiving only a fraction of the budget transfers they are owed under the current oil-for-budget payments arrangement with the Federal Government of Iraq (FGI) in Baghdad. This revives the same dispute that triggered the collapse of the deal in March 2023 and shut down the cru…