ERBIL — The Iraqi Council of Ministers has decided to send 400 billion dinars monthly for Kurdistan Region employee salaries, according to Fars Issa, the representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in Baghdad.

Issa told Kurdistan 24 that the funds will continue to be sent until the approval of the budget by the Iraqi parliament. The move comes after PM Barzani signed a new interim deal on April 4 during his visit to Baghdad. The agreement allows the Kurdish region to export oil to Turkey’s Ceyhan port.

After the International Court of Arbitration in Paris ruled in favor of Iraq in a legal challenge against Turkey, oil exports were halted. However, the new deal states that SOMO, the Iraqi state-owned marketing company, will market and export 400,000 barrels per day of Kurdish crude oil at market prices.

Under the agreement, Kurdish oil sales revenue will be deposited in a Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) account owned by the KRG and monitored by Baghdad. Basim Alawadi, the Iraqi government spokesperson, announced that the budget proposal estimates oil revenues at 117.3 trillion Iraqi dinars while non-oil revenues will be 17.3 trillion Iraqi dinars.

The total proposed expenditure amounts to almost 198 trillion Iraqi dinars, while investment projects are estimated at 47.5 trillion Iraqi dinars. At a joint news conference following the signing ceremony in Baghdad, PM Barzani and his Iraqi counterpart Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani hailed the new deal as a significant step towards strengthening the economic ties between the two regions.