Iraq finance committee says salary crisis remains unresolved

BAGHDAD, Iraq — A member of Iraq's parliamentary Finance Committee said Thursday that the Finance Minister has formally requested to be heard by parliament on the country's salary crisis, but no session date has been set. Hussein al-Deraci said the upcoming hearing is expected to review a government borrowing draft law already submitted to parliament, which would be examined and amended by the committee after passing its first and second readings before being put to a vote. Al-Deraci stressed that the salary crisis has not been resolved so far, without providing further detail on outstanding issues. Finance Minister Falih Sari submitted a formal request to parliament on Monday, seeking a discussion of Iraq's financial and economic situation. Separately, government spokesman Haydar al-Abbadi said Iraq is facing "heavy" financial tests, noting that monthly expenditures have reached 10.8 trillion Iraqi dinars while oil revenues stand at only 2.5 trillion dinars.