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IS Faces Budget Crunch, Cutting Perks and Trimming Salaries
(AP) Lori Hinnant, Zeina Karam and Susannah George - Faced with a cash shortage, Islamic State has slashed salaries across the region, asked Raqqa residents to pay utility bills in black market American dollars, and is now releasing detainees for a price of $500 a person. In Raqqa, the group's stronghold in Syria, salaries have been halved since December, electricity is rationed, and prices for basics are spiraling out of reach. In Iraq, the Iraqi government in September cut off salaries to government workers within IS-controlled territory. Islamic State had taxed the salaries at 20-50%. In the Iraqi city of Fallujah, fighters who once made $400 a month aren't being paid at all and their food rations have been cut to two meals a day, according to a resident.