The Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Region, in an order, tasked the Ministry of Finance and the region’s negotiating delegation with working to include the salaries, weapons and expenses of the Peshmerga forces in Iraq’s sovereign budget for 2027, on a basis of complete equality with the federal forces.
The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Media and Information Department announced today, Wednesday, 14 October 2026: To ensure the rights and financial demands of the Kurdistan Peshmerga forces, Prime Minister Masrour Barzani officially tasked the Ministry of Finance and Economy and the region’s Higher Negotiating Committee with working to include Peshmerga expenses within the framework of sovereign expenditures in the federal general budget.
According to an official letter from the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, numbered (12,649) and dated 6 October 2026, it was stressed that the Kurdistan Region contributes, through its share of the federal budget, to funding sovereign expenditures, which also include Peshmerga expenses.
The letter stated: In the negotiations on the federal budget for 2027, efforts must be made to secure the salaries, benefits and all financial demands of the Peshmerga forces—including projects, training and armament—according to a standard completely equal and similar to that of their counterparts in the federal government.
The Prime Minister also stressed full coordination with the Kurdish blocs in the Iraqi Council of Representatives so that this demand would be defended throughout all stages of preparing and approving the budget for 2027.
