The inaugural meeting of the 11th National Finance Commission is being held today (Thursday) in Islamabad as negotiations formally begin for sharing divisible federal resources between the Center and the provinces.
state broadcaster pay television Images shared from the meeting on social media platform
He said the meeting would be held at the Finance Division.
The meeting will address three agenda items. All four provincial finance ministers and four non-statutory members – Dr Asad Sayeed (Sindh), Mehfooz Ali Khan (Balochistan), Nasir Mehmood Khosa (Punjab) and Dr Musharraf Rasool Cyan (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) – are members of the NFC.
At the beginning, the meeting will hold general discussions on the “strategy for deliberations on the 11th NFC Award, including the proposed formation of subgroups for deliberations on thematic areas, etc.”
This will be followed by 10-minute presentations from each of the four provincial governments and the federal Ministry of Finance on their respective fiscal positions. The meeting will then set the schedule and timelines for future NFC meetings, which are likely to be held in all federal and provincial capitals until the conclusion of deliberations.
The eleventh NFC was constituted on August 22 to present a new award for sharing divisible federal resources between the Center and the provinces. Its first meeting, initially called for August 27, was postponed repeatedly.
The terms of reference, set out in Clause 2 of Article 160, require the 11th NFC to distribute between the federal government and the provinces the net revenues of five main tax categories. These include income taxes, including capital value tax and corporation tax, but excluding income taxes consisting of remuneration paid from the Federal Consolidated Fund.
KP CM holds consultations ahead of NFC
Ahead of the meeting, KP CM Afridi last night held consultations in preparation for the inaugural meeting in the presence of senior PTI leaders, where it was decided to “fully and effectively” defend the interests of KP, with special emphasis on the “financial merger of the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata).”
Detailing the meeting in a post on
During the meeting, the prime minister was informed that “at the time of merger of erstwhile Fata, a promise was made to provide Rs 100 billion annually, which now amounts to Rs 700 billion.”
It was further discussed that of the total amount, the Center had only released Rs 168 billion while Rs 531.9 billion remained pending.
CM Afridi termed the delay in issuance of funds as a “violation of Article 160” of the Constitution and vowed to protect the “financial and constitutional rights” of the province.
Among the participants in the meeting were PTI’s Asad Qaiser, provincial minister Meena Khan Afridi, financial advisor Muzammil Aslam and others.
