The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is throwing its weight behind objections raised by the autonomous Kurdistan region over Iraq’s 2018 budget – a dispute that now threatens Baghdad’s ability to access billions of dollars’ worth of international loans. The budget, passed by Parliament on Saturday , troubles the IMF for two reasons: not only does it allocate just 6.6 trillion Iraqi dinars ($5.6 billion*) to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) – a steep cut compared to previous years – but it also lowers taxes and reduces Saturday non-oil revenue.