Ninth NFC virtually dead, claims Kaiser Bengali

ISLAMABAD: All hopes for breakthrough on the resource distribution formula under the ambit of National Finance Commission (NFC) Award have entered into deadlock and many experts believe that 9th NFC has virtually become dead.

Experts belonging to renowned institutions of the country have come together in Islamabad to deliberate that how this impasse like situation could be broken for breaking this deadlock in the existing prevailing situation.

“Practically the 9th NFC has become dead as no breakthrough seems possible on horizon during this financial year or even in next financial year. We all experts have sit together to find out solution from this existing stalemate like situation,” Dr Kaiser Bengali, renowned economist and non official member of NFC representing Balochistan told The News on Friday.

He said that it was made part of the Constitution through 18th amendment that the share of provinces could not be reduced from the agreed last NFC Award so the provinces share could not come down. On other hand, the Centre is not ready to provide more resources to the provinces so the NFC talks entered into deadlock like situation. In these circumstances, he said that he suggested researchers and think tanks to sit together for finding out solution acceptable to all parties concerned.

This scribe also contacted to former Secretary Finance Abdul Wajid Rana, who told The News that they decided to hold consultative meetings in different parts of the country to deliberate on NFC issue and come up with consensus based solution for tackling this situation.

However, according to press statement issued by Policy Research Institute of Market Economy (PRIME Institute) in Islamabad, stated that the NFC allocations must be linked to socio economic objectives such as health and education. 

This was held in agreement by a working group of top policy experts at the 1st Consultative session on the National Finance Commission organized by the PRIME Institute in Islamabad.

The working group comprises Abdul Wajid Rana, Dr Kaiser Bengali, Dr Idrees Khawaja, Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Dr. Karim Khan, Dr Shumail Daud, Sohaib Jamali, and Ali Salman. 

The independent and diverse working group of seasoned economists, policy practitioners, journalists, and academic experts has been brought together by Prime Institute to help resolve the current stalemate over the National Finance Commission Award, and will push to develop national consensus over an alternative structure of the NFC. 

Speaking on this occasion, NFC Represented of Balochistan and senior economist Dr Kaiser Bengali said that a new narrative is needed around NFC to break the stalemate. 

Former Federal Secretary of Finance Abdul Wajid Rana stated that the criteria and structure of NFC needs to be reviewed. 

The working group will review the allocations criteria, tax sharing formula, and will also suggest mechanisms for efficient and performance based development allocation. 

Executive Director of Prime Institute Ali Salman however cautioned that the success of this initiative hinge on the relevance, timeliness and quality of policy analysis generated by the group, as well as the level of interest from the policy makers.

The group of experts has strongly agreed to deliberate over linking some part of NFC allocations to socio-economic objectives, such as education and health instead of an altogether block transfer.