ISLAMABAD – The Centre has assured the provinces of releasing funds under the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award per the agreed formula despite financial constraints. The assurance was provided by Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh in a meeting that took stock of the implementation of the NFC Award on Monday.
An official source said the minister asked the provincial governments to look into taxing the agriculture and real estate sectors. He sought presentation from the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) and provinces in the next meeting. The finance minister of Sindh, Syed Murad Ali Shah, demanded the reconciliation report on taxes should be compiled monthly so that the provincial governments stayed aware of their share.
The meeting was informed that the FBR had collected Rs 621 billion during the first six months of the current fiscal year. An amount of Rs 24.2 billion was deducted from the amount for being non-divisible pool component in the shape of GST on services, excise duty on natural gas, workers welfare fund and export development surcharge. The distribution of divisible pool taxes in gross terms amounted to Rs 596.8 billion during the first six months. After one percent deduction as collection charges or Rs 8.1 billion and income tax of Rs 2.1 billion, the net divisible pool became Rs 588.7 billion.
A sum of Rs 5.89 billion was given to KP. The balance of Rs 582.82b was to be distributed among the Centre (44 percent share or Rs 256.44 billion) and provinces (56 percent share or Rs 326.38 billion). Punjab stood eligible of Rs 168.87 billion for its 51.7 percent share, Sindh Rs 80.13 billion for its 24.5 percent, KPK Rs 47.72 billion for its 14.6 percent and Balochistan got Rs 29.67 billion for its 9.09 percent, while getting an additional sum of Rs 11.83 billion.
The federal government provided Rs 11.83 billion to Balochistan to match the guaranteed figure of Rs 83 billion.
The meeting was informed that the provinces would be getting a royalty of Rs 8.1 billion on account of crude oil. On the distribution of gas development surcharge, the meeting was informed that the provinces would be getting royalty in accordance with the award. The net proceeds distributed up to December 31 among the provinces totaled Rs 38.3 billion. It included Rs 17.8 billion in royalty on natural gas, and Rs 20.49 billion against gas development surcharge.
