Parliament set for imminent vote on scaled-down, $10B financing law

ERBIL/SULAIMANIYA/BAGHDAD - Iraq's Parliament is considering a scaled-down emergency financing law that would give the government access to 12 trillion Iraqi dinars ($10.2 billion) in financing, though it could be delayed by renewed disputes over revenue-sharing with the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

The revised bill would provide less than one-third the amount of funding requested by the Cabinet, but it would still give Iraq a minimum level of liquidity needed to make delayed payments to public-sector employees and relieve some pressure on the Oil Ministry, which has been pumping oil above its OPEC-plus quota largely because of domestic financial necessities.