Iraq’s parliament approves budget, ending dispute over oil revenue sharing with Kurdish region

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ABDULRAHMAN ZEYAD
Associated Press

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq’s parliament has belatedly approved a record $152 billion budget for 2023, after months of wrangling over the sharing of oil revenue between the central government in Baghdad and the semi-autonomous Iraqi Kurdish region in the north. The process was also hampered by infighting between different Iraqi Kurdish parties. The budget approved on Monday allocates 12.6% of revenue to the Kurdish region and is seen as a compromise. The central government in Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government in the city of Irbil have been locked in a dispute over oil revenue for years, while competing Kurdish parties are also at loggerheads over their shares.