ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Sunday warns against an urge for ‘gold rush’ to economic growth and asserted that both the federation and its units would have to contribute greater revenues in upcoming National Finance Commission (NFC) parlays for sustainable and meaningful growth.

Speaking at a news conference, the minister expected the federal and provincial stakeholders of the national finance commission (NFC) would lead to an outcome in the spirit of “Pakistan First” like they had delivered National Fiscal Pact and introduced agriculture income tax (AIT) through provincial legislations. “I look forward to good and constructive discussions with provincial finance ministers and chief ministers” on Dec 4, he said.

He said the nature of NFC was to have consensus mainly on revenue, expenditure and governance and there was no dispute that as a nation the country required not only structural but institutional reforms as also highlighted in the IMF’s governance and corruption diagnostic assessment (GCDA) on the request of Pakistan government.

He said it was a separate discussion if there would be AIT collection but it was a fact that for the first time in history, the provinces have legislated AIT. Likewise, expenditures are also required to be made collectively........

© Dawn Business