Several members of the Iraqi Parliament revealed plans to declare the southern province of Basra an "independent region" due to what they termed "budget injustices." Intisar al-Moussawi, a member of Parliament representing Basra, stated in an interview that there is a parliamentary movement led by representatives from the province to declare Basra "an independent region" if it does not receive its entitlements from the 2021 budget.
Al-Moussawi argued that "the southern and central provinces have been wronged and have not received their due shares from the budget," asserting her rejection of the 2021 budget which she claimed benefits the Kurdistan Region as the sole recipient after allocating approximately 13 trillion dinars to it. She stated, "We will not allow the budget to pass... there is no fairness in distribution, and we will refuse to vote on it."
She added that there is a movement among Basra's representatives to declare the province an independent region unless it receives its share from the 2021 budget, emphasizing that they will continue to demand its declaration as a final solution to its grievances. Al-Moussawi confirmed that Basra's parliamentarians would not accept the sale of the province's properties and projects in any form, voicing their rejection of any such actions. There is a parliamentary consensus across various committees against the sale of provincial properties.
Previously, Basra's representatives in the Iraqi Parliament threatened not to support the 2021 budget law unless the province is granted its legitimate rights and recognized for its historical, strategic, and future role in the lives of all Iraqis.
In a strange paradox, residents of Basra complain of deteriorating living conditions despite the province being the richest in Iraq, as it is the center of the country’s oil industry (producing about 3.4 million barrels per day). The Iraqi Human Rights Commission announced last November that the poverty rate in Basra had risen to 40%. At that time, the Commission urged the Iraqi government to enact an oil and gas law to fairly compensate the producing provinces and to provide job opportunities in the province, which is Iraq's only maritime outlet to the Arabian Gulf.
