NFC meeting reviews proposals for national resources' distribution

ISLAMABAD: The first meeting of ninth National Finance Commission (NFC) on Wednesday agreed that fiscal allocation should reflect true spirit of 18th amendment, ARY News reported.

Finance Minister Asad Umar chaired the meeting in Islamabad, attended by the provincial representatives.

The meeting formed six sub groups to put forward proposals for FATA affairs, ease of doing business, macro economic issues and horizontal and vertical distribution of resources.

Complete data sharing amongst the federal and provincial governments was emphasized in the meeting.

The meeting reviewed recommendations for better distribution of national resources under the new NFC award.

It was decided that the NFC will henceforth meet every six weeks.

It was decided that the NFC secretariat at the ministry of finance will be further strengthened for effective coordination on different matters.

The last NFC award was signed in December 2009 that drastically increased the provincial share from the divisible pool.

On January 12, President Dr Arif Alvi had reconstituted the ninth National Finance Commission (NFC) to formulate a new resource distribution formula between the Centre and federating units.

The NFC Award is a constitutional obligation. It is clearly indicated in the Article 160 of the “Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973” that it has been made mandatory for the government to compose NFC Award at an interval extending not more than five years for the amicable resource distribution among the federation and its respective units.