Finance Minister writes letter to provinces for reconstitution of NFC

ISLAMABAD: The federal government has asked all the provinces to nominate members for the reconstitution National Finance Commission (NFC).

The Federal Minister for Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs Asad Umar has written letters to all provincial Chief Ministers for the reconstitution of the commission, according to a press statement issued by the Finance Ministry here Wednesday.

“Either reconfirm the earlier nominated members or intimate the change in the nomination to enable the federal government to notify the 9th NFC,” the minister wrote.

The NFC is required to be set up at intervals not exceeding five years as required under clause (1) of the Article 160 of the constitution, the statement added.

The Federal Finance Minister and the Finance Ministers of the provinces are the statutory members of NFC, it said adding it was customary to include one non-statutory member from each province.

According to the statement, letters have accordingly been dispatched to Sardar Usman Ahmad Buzdar Chief Minister Punjab, Syed Murad Ali Shah Chief Minister Sindh, Mahmood Khan Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhua and to Jam Kamal Khan Chief Minister Balochistan.

The letters state that after general elections 2018, new governments were in place, both at the federal and provincial levels, necessitating re-confirmation of non-statutory members from the provinces.