ISLAMABAD    -    Former information minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) senior leader Fawad Chaudhry has hoped that both Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) would strive to partially review the 18th constitutional amendment and NFC Award in the light of the suggestions given by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail.

In a tweet on Saturday, Chaudhry said that Miftah has been criticising the NFC Award and the formula regarding division of national resources between the Centre and the provinces under the 18th amendment of the Constitution and added; “Now the PPP has also agreed to this point”. He hoped that PML-N and PPP would also take practical steps to implement the suggestion.

Miftah Ismail, back in 2018, had described the NFC Award formula a structural problem and imperfect. In his opinion, the formula gives inadequate resources to the Centre. He listed the resources distribution formula under the NFC among the three most critical structural problems for Pakistan’s economy, bringing a closed-door debate among political parties in the open. After handing over 57.5 percent of total taxes collected by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to the provinces, the federal government’s revenues were not sufficient to meet its day-to-day expenses, he said. He added that the remaining 42.5 percent was only sufficient for debt servicing, and the government was meeting the needs of defence, development, pensions and running its affairs through borrowing.