First NFC meeting scheduled for Feb 6

ISLAMABAD: The recently reconstituted 9th National Finance Commission (NFC) is all set to hold its first meeting on Feb 6 to give a new award for sharing federal divisible resources among the centre and provinces.

Finance Minister Asad Umar will chair the upcoming meeting where provinces will brief the federal government on fiscal matters and discuss a strategy for the new award.

The nine-member commission includes four provincial finance ministers and four non-statutory members. The non-statutory members, one from each province, include Dr Salman Shah from Punjab, Asad Sayeed from Sindh, Musharraf Rasool Cyan from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Mahfooz Ali Khan from Balochistan.

The commission was reconstituted following the change of governments at both the federal and provincial levels. The government after taking power at the centre requested four provinces to submit their nominations for non-statutory members.

Moreover, the ninth NFC was constituted on April 24, 2015 as required under Clause (1) of Article 160 of the Constitution. The constitutional term of ninth NFC is set to expire in June 2020.