The Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq said Wednesday that it would halt its independent oil exports if the Baghdad government paid its employees, but cast doubt on the government's ability to do so, AFP reported.
Earlier this week Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said he would pay the salaries of the autonomous Kurdish region's employees in exchange for halting their oil sales, which Baghdad considers illegal.
The KRG said it "accepted your excellency's proposal of the Iraqi federal government (paying) all the salaries of the employees of the Kurdistan region, who number 400,000 people."
The salaries, which have not been paid in several months, amount to more than $747 million per month.
If the Baghdad government paid the salaries, the KRG would "hand over all of its oil production to the federal government of Iraq, as is clearly stated in your excellency's proposal," it said.
In responding favorably to the proposal, the Kurds put al-Abadi in the position of following through on the agreement or backing down.
The Kurdish authorities seemed to show skepticism about the chances of such an agreement actually materialising, citing various occasions on which Baghdad failed to follow through on financial commitments.
Iraqi Kurdistan has been independently selling crude oil via Turkey since a deal with Baghdad on oil and revenue-sharing fell through last year.
