Council of Ministers discusses rearrangement of customs and price of goods

Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (GOV.KRD) - Council of Ministers on Wednesday held its weekly meeting led by Prime Minister Masrour Barzani.

Opening the meeting, Prime Minister Barzani briefed the Council on the meeting between the Kurdistan Region’s four presidencies regarding the federal supreme court’s decision against the KRG’s oil and gas industry. He reiterated that the decision is unconstitutional and violates the constitutional rights of the Kurdistan Region, which is unacceptable. He added that the Region will continue to defend its constitutional rights through dialogue.

Thereafter, the Council was briefed on a report by the committee tasked with overseeing the rearrangement of taxes and customs in a manner which was not detrimental to people's livelihoods.

One of the report's key proposals concerned the development of a centralized services portal through the link https://services.gov.krd. This portal will prove crucial for the digitization of all processes and an important step towards reducing bureaucracy and ending corruption.

The Council also confirmed that the Ministry of Finance and Economy will begin distributing February salaries starting from Thursday.

Thereafter, the Minister of Trade and Industry, and Minister of Agriculture and Water Resources both briefed the Council on the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on imports. These reports outlined the KRG’s food security program, including details of several specific projects.

The Council tasked the concerned ministries to take necessary measures and local provincial authorities to supervise market prices to ensure against profiteering and exploitation.

The Council then discussed Tuesday's meeting of the Iraqi Council of Ministers, in which Kurdistan Region provinces were excluded from receiving financial aid for lower income families.

The Council noted that the federal government has already reduced the Kurdistan Region’s share of the federal budget and, since the beginning of 2020, there have been 14 months in which Baghdad has failed to send the Region’s share of the federal budget.

Thereafter, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs, and Minister of Planning briefed the Council on means of increasing local labor in the country and private sector pensions.

The Council decided to extend the 15% reduction of electricity bills for those who pay between 10 March to May 31.