Tag: National Finance Commission

ISLAMABAD: The President of Pakistan on Tuesday constituted the 10^th National Finance Commission (NFC) consisting members of federal and provincial governments.

The finance commission has been constituted with effect from April 23, 2020, consisting following members:

01. Minister for Finance, Government of Pakistan: Chairman

02. Minister For Finance, Government of the Punjab: Member

03. Minister for Finance, Government of Sindh: Member

04. Minister for Finance, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Member

05. Minister for Finance, Government of Balochistan: Member

06. Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue: Member

07. Tariq Bajwa, Government of Punjab: Member

08. Dr. Asad Sayeed, Government of Sindh: Member

09. Musharraf Rasool Cyan, Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Member

10. Javed Jabbar, Government of Balochistan: Member

11. Finance Secretary, Government of Pakistan: Official Expert

The president has also authorized Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance and Revenue to chair the meeting of the NFC in the absence of Federal Finance Minister.

A circular issued in this regard stated that in terms of Article 160(2) of the Constitution, the terms of reference for the 10^th NFC are as under:

a. Distribution between the Federation and the provinces of the net proceeds of the following taxes:

i. Taxes on income, including corporation tax, but not including taxes on income consisting of remuneration paid out of the federal consolidation fund;

ii. Taxes on the sales and purchases of goods imported, exported, produced, manufactured or consumed;

iii. Export duties on cotton, and such other export duties as may be specified by the president;

iv. Such duties of excise as may be specified by the president; and

v. Such other taxes as may be specified by the president.

b. Making of grants-in-aid by the federal government to the provincial governments;

c. Exercise by the federal government and the provincial governments of the borrowing powers conferred by the constitution;

d. Assessment and allocation of resources to meet expenditures related to Azad Government of the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Government of Gilgit-Baltistan and newly merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (erstwhile FATA);

e. Assessment and allocation of resources to meet expenditures made on security and natural disaster/calamities;

f. Assessment of total public dent and allocation of resources for its repayment;

g. Rationalization of subsidies given by the federal and provincial governments in their budgets and agreeing on a mechanism to finance them;

h. Exploring ways to reduce losses of state-owned enterprises and agreeing on mechanism for sharing these losses between the federal government and the provincial governments;

i. Any other matter relating to finance referred to the commission by the President.

The finance division shall, as per the Rule of Business, 1973, provide the secretarial support to the commission.

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar on Friday chaired the 5th meeting of the 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) that was held in at Lahore.

The six sub-groups, formulated during the first meeting in February, gave presentation 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, harmonization and sharing of data.

The members of the Commission appreciated the work done by the six sub-groups in their first meetings.

It was agreed that the sub-groups would continue their deliberations and present their reports in the subsequent meetings.

The Chairman suggested that deliberations should also include incentives for poverty alleviation and social sector spending.

The representative of Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa proposed a framework for NFC deliberations aiming at equalizing 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.

The Chairman emphasized the importance of a well deliberated and consensus based National Finance Commission Award and said that all federating units shared a huge responsibility in that regard.

The meeting agreed to make efforts to finalize the NFC Award by December 31, 2019. It was also agreed to hold the next meeting, before end of April, 2019, which would focus on FATA and the taxation aspects of ease of doing business.

The Chairman reiterated that provincial governments will be engaged in the fiscal related discussion with the 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 for strengthening NFC Secretariat and said that necessary measures would be taken in that regard.

Technical members from Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa volunteered to submit a proposal in this regard.

The eagerly anticipated first meeting of the reconstituted Ninth National Finance Commission (NFC) is scheduled to take place today, with discussions focusing on the current fiscal position of the country.