Federal Government Forms 11th National Finance Commission
Islamabad – The federal government has officially announced the formation of the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC), a key body responsible for shaping fiscal federalism and ensuring fair financial allocations across Pakistan.
According to a notification from the Ministry of Finance, Federal Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb has been appointed as the Chairman of the NFC. The finance ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan will serve as ex officio members.
Each province has also nominated an expert member to the commission: Nasir Mahmood Khosa for Punjab, Dr. Asad Sayeed for Sindh, Dr. Musharraf Rasool Cyan for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Farman Ullah for Balochistan.
The NFC’s mandate, as defined in Article 160(3) of the Constitution, includes advising the President on the distribution of federal tax revenues between the federation and the provinces, determining grants-in-aid, setting borrowing powers for federal and provincial governments, and overseeing finances for national and trans-provincial projects. The commission may also take up other fiscal matters referred to it by the President.
The Finance Division will serve as the secretariat for the NFC in accordance with the Rules of Business, 1973. The previous 10th NFC, formed in July 2020, has now been dissolved to make way for the new body.
It is worth noting that the seventh NFC Award remained in effect for nearly 15 years, far longer than its original five-year term, due to ongoing disputes between the federal and provincial governments over revenue-sharing formulas.
In related news, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar, recently reaffirmed the country’s commitment to constitutional stability while speaking to the media in London. He stated, “We do not need the 27th constitutional amendment as we have already absorbed the 26th one.”
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