Iraqi lawmaker proposes requiring self-financing firms to cover central payroll costs

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Iraqi parliament member Hiyam Elyasiri of the Reconstruction and Development Bloc proposed legislation on Tuesday requiring self-financing companies within government ministries to pay the salaries of centrally funded employees in the same ministry. She said some departments operate as self-financing profit companies while others receive central funding for staff salaries, and suggested the proposal could be adopted by the government and added to the budget as a line item. Elyasiri argued that workers at self-financing firms receive their salaries and incentives on time, while centrally funded colleagues in the same ministry sometimes go unpaid, calling the disparity unfair. The proposal comes amid an ongoing salary crisis in which some public servants have not been paid for more than 40 days and the government has acknowledged a liquidity crunch. The Finance Ministry has said monthly salary obligations stand at about 7.8 trillion dinars, against roughly 3.2 trillion dinars paid out to date. No further details on the legislation’s timeline or parliamentary scheduling were immediately available.