The four provinces have made no headway on horizontal distribution of resources under the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award here on Thursday, however formula for vertical sharing between the federation and provinces has been finalised.
It was expected that on Thursday, the concluding day of the sixth meeting of the Commission, the provinces would finalise the 7th NFC Award, but even after the two days of deliberations the provinces could not develop a consensus formula for the distribution of resources.
Consequently, it was decided that the commission would continue deliberations on the issues pertaining to horizontal distribution on Friday too and it is hoped the award would be announced today (Friday). The meeting, which was scheduled to conclude in the evening, continued till late in night with a hope that the differences between the provinces could be removed and the 7th NFC Award could be finalised.
The Chief Ministers of all the provinces also joined the Commission in deliberations on the contentious issues in a bid to make any headway, but the meeting could not end with tangible progress that could be reported to the press.
Thus, the media men, invited twice for a press briefing by Chairman of the Commission, Federal Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin, were greeted by Former Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar accompanied by Punjab Finance Minister Tanvir Ashraf Kiara. Their presence indicated that the award is yet to be finalised.
However, Ishaq Dar did announce that formula for vertical sharing between the federation and the provinces has been finalised and only issues pertaining to horizontal distribution between the provinces were under discussion. He did not elaborate the formula finalised for vertical distribution but said that it was close to the demands of the provinces (60 percent for provinces and 40 percent for the federation).
According to sources, the centre has agreed give above 56 percent to the provinces, which would be around 10 percent more than the share in the previous award. This substantial increase in the share of provinces has given a sigh of relief to all the chief ministers, they added.
Ishaq Dar did admit that some issues pertaining to sharing resources under horizontal formula were being deliberated and the late night session would hopefully resolve all the pending issues. " However, if needed another meeting would be held on Friday (today) to give final touches and by afternoon it would be announced," he added He said that substantial progress has been made on distribution of resources among provinces, terming it as a leap forward and big success.
To a question, he said efforts were being made to create consensus on all issues related to NFC in Lahore. However, he said, if something remained unresolved, it would be sorted out in the Federal Capital.
He remarked that in the process of finalising the NFC Award, the Commission had to keep in mind to give positive news to Balochistan as well and Punjab has been very supportive in the whole course of deliberations on the award. To another question, Ishaq Dar said revenue was a contentious issue and the Commission was working on it.
He said it has to be worked out with a professional approach and not a political one. "It will be discussed with tangible facts," he added. Meanwhile, sources claimed that the meeting lasted late in the night managed to make substantial progress in ironing out the differences on horizontal distribution and it is hoped the award will be announced on Friday.
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