Islamabad:
The issue of the National Commission of Finance (NFC) has resurfaced, and the Senate’s Permanent Finance Committee hopes to convene a meeting next week to address provincial concerns about the distribution of resources, the sources have revealed.
According to the sources, the Committee has decided to convene finance ministers of the four provinces to discuss complaints related to the NFC award. The measure is produced amid increasing tensions between federal and provincial governments on the allocation of funds and the delay in a new NFC formula.
The sources argued that the federal government is reluctant to provide funds for the departments that have been transferred to the provinces. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government (KP), in particular, has expressed concerns, stating that its population has increased significantly after the fusion of the former Fata districts, however, this demographic change has not been reflected in the allocation of resources.
According to reports, KP Prime Minister Ali Amin Gandapur has written a letter to the President, expressing concern for the exclusion of the province of a fair part in the NFC award due to obsolete population data.
The KP government adopted the position that under the NFC, the equitable distribution of resources every five years, was a constitutional requirement. However, the current NFC formula, established in 2009, has spread in the last 15 years without significant reviews.
According to the existing NFC award, 57.5% of the divisible resources are assigned to the provinces, while the Federal Government retains 42.5%.
