Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) while expressing its dissatisfaction over implementation of 18th Constitutional Amendment and 7th NFC Award; urged government to form a commission with sunset clause to oversee completion of implementation while managing fiscal implications; enhancing provincial revenue generation; rationalising current expenses and PSDP. Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), a joint initiative of ministry of finance, government of Pakistan and United States Agency for International Development (USAID), made a presentation to key institutions responsible for economic management of the country on a recent study on intergovernmental finance. Research team was led by Shahid Javed Burki, renowned economist and former finance minister of Pakistan. It also included Dr Aisha G Pasha Director Institute of Public Policy of BNU, former Federal Finance Secretary Ahmed Waqar and CSF team consisting of Shahab Khawaja CEO, Imran Khan and Mehr Shah.
In his keynote presentation Shahid J Burki briefed participants about scope of study and impact of intergovernmental finance post 18th amendment and 7th National Finance Award (NFC) and challenges and opportunities for federal and provincial governments. Shahid J Burki in his briefing said “Two extremely important developments have taken place in Pakistan recently. The first was the announcement of the 7th National Finance Commission (NFC) Award in November 2009. An unprecedented 56 per cent of revenue constituting divisible resources has been committed to the provinces under this Award. The second was parliament’s ratification in April 2010 of the 18th Amendment under which 18 ministries have been devolved from the center to the provinces.”
He further said together, the two initiatives aim at fundamentally restructuring fiscal and functional equation between central and provincial governments in the country. “Although the 18th Amendment is expansive in scope, the primary purpose of the CSF study was to focus on intergovernmental finance aspect of process of devolution. Study results will contribute to a better understanding of the fiscal implications of the 18th Amendment in light of resource shifts from the federal to the provincial governments under the 7th NFC Award,” he added.
Dr Nadeem Ul Haque in his remarks commented that, “study has highlighted a number of key issues likely to impact the process of devolution, some of which require immediate attention from both federal as well as provincial governments.”
Appreciating CSF’s contribution to do the first ever research study on the 18th Amendment and its fiscal impact on the federal and provincial governments, he said, “the study has made recommendations on establishment of a commission to oversee implementation of 18th Amendment, management of fiscal implications, strengthening of human resource pool, improved provincial budgeting, planning, and public finance management, assessing the regulatory fallout of the process and taking the devolution to the district level.” These are some of the most important findings for improving governance and harnessing development and growth in Pakistan, he further added.
Speaking on the occasion, Shahab Khawaja, Chief Executive Officer of the Competitiveness Support Fund said, “the CSF study includes an assessment of the current public finance management practices of provincial governments and the human resource and regulatory impact likely to arise out of the restructuring exercise.
CSF will also be briefing leading development institutions representing Asian Development Bank, DFID, USAID, the World Bank, UNDP, the Agha Khan Foundation, EU delegation and CIDA; whereas academic scholars from LUMS, CERP, COMSATS, PIDE and QAU will also participate in an interactive discussion. In addition to these, leading think tanks like Center for Social Science Research and SDPI will also be participating in the conference.
