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With compromise budget, Iraq buys some time

Parliament passes budget with toned-down revenue expectations and rules for Baghdad-KRG oil cooperation.
Members of Parliament gather to vote on Iraq's new government in Baghdad on Sept. 8, 2014. (THAIER AL-SUDANI/Reuters)

BAGHDAD - Iraq's Parliament passed the 2015 budget Thursday, including spending reductions and provisions governing the relationship between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region.

The new budget also leaves key questions unanswered. For example, it is not clear how Iraq will find additional financing if the price of oil remains so low; how leaders in Baghdad and Erbil will reconcile competing interpretations of their past and future obligations; or how southern provinces will respond to the disappointment of unfulfilled revenue demands.

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