“That would lead to reduction of internal flights and escapes to European countries”.
Advertisement
Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi speaks during an interview in Berlin, Germany, 11 February 2016.
“Kurdistan is part of Iraq and I hope it will remain so”.
Abadi criticised Barzani’s call, saying that holding a “referendum without result” could be seen as “belittling the common people”.
Discontent has been mounting in Kurdistan over unpaid salaries and wage cuts in the government sector, with doctors and traffic police holding protests this month.
Abadi said Kurdistan is exporting over 600,000 barrels of oil per day, accounting for 15% of all Iraqi output.
In the latest gain by Baghdad, Iraqi forces on Tuesday recaptured several areas from Daesh, including a strategic road that connects the western city of Ramadi to a military base in the capital Baghdad.
The army is now preparing to retake Mosul from the Takfiris.
Underlining the impact of sinking crude prices to Iraq’s economy, Abadi said oil revenues have plunged to just 15 percent of their level two years ago, as he urged the global community to help shore up his country’s battered economy.
In recent years Iraq’s Kurds have sought to maximize their autonomy, building their own pipeline to Turkey and exporting oil independently as relations with the federal government in Baghdad frayed over power- and revenue-sharing.
“If you wish to help Iraq, it is up to us to decide in what way you are to help us”, he said.
World oil prices have dropped by 70 percent since June 2014.
Advertisement
Although the loan is not tied to any specific projects, Merkel said Iraq needed to fix its war-torn infrastructure to give Iraqi people hope “so that they don’t have to leave their country”.
