There is some realisation in corridors of power that denial of provincial autonomy as defined by the 18th constitutional amendment is a significant cause for federal financial woes.

And implicit in this recognition, in reality, is that the time for centralised, arbitrary control of the country’s economic affairs seems to be over. This is somewhat obvious from how the water canal issue was finally settled by consensus in the Council of Common Interests (CCI). That means that centralisation has to be based on participatory federal democracy.

During the April 28th CCI meeting, the federal government informed the four provinces that it was in the process of establishing the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC) to finalise the 8th NFC Award and also a new formula for distribution of resources.

The finance ministry says it spent Rs638 billion on health, education and social protection, which, under the constitution, are provincial matters. The amount does not include the development spending.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government pressed the federal government in the CCI to call the meeting of the 10th NFC and announce an interim award, says Muzammil Aslam, KP’s Finance Adviser to the chief minister.

Government gears up to transfer various federal bodies to provincial control as per the 18th constitutional amendment

Deputy........

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