PAKISTAN

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Tuesday signed the Seventh National Finance Award (NFC) at a ceremony held in Aiwan-e-Sadr here.

The Chief Ministers and Governors of all four provinces attended the award-signing ceremony.

Earlier, President Zardari held a meeting with chief ministers and governors and discussed issues pertaining to the NFC Award.

The Seventh National Finance Commission Award was signed on Dec 29, 2009 by the finance ministers of the four provinces and the federal government.

The signing was witnessed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Punjab Chief Minster Shahbaz Sharif, NWFP Chief Minister Ameer Haider Hoti, Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani and members of the federal cabinet, while Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah signed the accord because he holds the portfolio of the provincial finance ministry.

The award will come into effect from the next financial year.

According to the award, the provinces would get Rs227 billion in the first year under the new NFC award in addition to their current share of Rs550 billion in financial resources.

The amount will increase to Rs850 billion the following year and to Rs1,250 billion by the fifth year.

Under the award, Balochistan’s share in the provincial pool had been increased to 9.09 per cent, which will amount to Rs83 billion in the first year.

After considering special needs of Balochistan and application of multiple indicators, Punjab has been allocated a share of 51.74 per cent, Sindh 24.55 per cent and the NWFP 14.62 per cent. The share of Punjab has dropped by 1.27 per cent, Sindh by 0.39 per cent and the NWFP by 0.26 per cent.

The distribution is based on 82 per cent weightage to population, 10.3 per cent to poverty, 2.5 per cent to revenue generation, 2.5 per cent to revenue collection and 2.7 per cent to area.

The provinces’ share in the divisible pool will increase from the current 47.5 per cent to 56 per cent in the first year and 57.5 per cent afterwards.