Hafeez Shaikh seeks suggestions from provinces for 10th NFC award

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Thursday chaired a meeting of the National Finance Commission (NFC) and asked the provinces to submit their recommendations for finalizing the 10th NFC award, ARY NEWS reported.

The meeting of the 10th NFC was attended by chief minister Sindh, and finance ministers from Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan as federal finance secretary shared a draft of conditions, needed to be followed while making recommendations.

A handout while detailing the conditions said that the TORs included preparation of an economic framework for the NFC, a formula for distribution of revenue collection and matters relating to making tax payments easy.

Provision of business-related facilities to erstwhile FATA areas, increasing share of every province, and improved coordination between agencies involved in collecting revenue were also made part of the TORs for the 10th NFC.

The handout further read that seven sub-groups were also formed under the NFC to mull over separate aspects.

Speaking during the meeting, Hafeez Shaikh said that the NFC was a forum to create consensus among the Centre and provinces. “The members of the commission should present suggestions for the success of the 10th NFC award,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the NFC Award is a constitutional obligation. It is clearly indicated in 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.

Provinces then also re-distribute revenues among lower tiers of the government through a revenue-sharing formula through PFC Awards.

The central government collects most of the revenues and then redistributes vertically between the federal and the provincial governments, and horizontally among the provinces.

Provinces then also redistribute revenues among lower tiers of the government, through a revenue-sharing formula known as Provincial Finance Commission (PFC).