LAHORE: Efforts will be made to finalise the 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) award by December 31 this year, members of the commission agreed during the fifth meeting on the much-delayed issue.According to a press statement issued by the finance ministry, the fifth meeting of the 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) was held in Lahore on Friday with Finance Minister Asad Umar in the chair.It was also agreed to hold the next meeting before the end of April — which would focus on the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) and the taxation aspects which could ease doing business.The six sub-groups, formulated during the first meeting in February, presented on various aspects of resources distribution as per the terms of reference assigned to the groups. The main focus of all sub-groups’ deliberations was transparency, harmonisation and sharing of data.The commission members appreciated the work done by the six sub-groups in their first meetings, the statement said, adding it was agreed the sub-groups would continue their deliberations and present their reports in the subsequent meetings.On the occasion, Umar suggested that deliberations should also include incentives for poverty alleviation and social sector spending. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa representative proposed a framework for NFC deliberations aiming at equalising fiscal resources across federating units, equal access to public services for all citizens of Pakistan and expenditure efficiency at all levels of the federation.All members agreed on the framework and lauded the efforts of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in this regard. Umar emphasised the importance of a well deliberated and consensus-based NFC award and said all federating units share a huge responsibility in this regard. The chairman reiterated that provincial governments will be engaged in fiscal-related discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He also suggested that each federating unit should nominate a focal person for data sharing to facilitate the working sub-groups.He also stressed on strengthening the NFC Secretariat and said necessary measures will be taken in that regard. Technical members from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa volunteered to submit a proposal in this regard, the press statement added.—News Desk/Agencies
03-30-2019, 11:08 PM
Ninth NFC award to be finalised by Dec 31
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