Centre | Pakistan

• Ahsan calls for shift from population-based formula • Says fiscal space shrinking, provinces must share burden and invest in human development ISLAMABAD: The federal government on Thursday proposed shifting the “regressive” population-based formula for distributing divisible pool resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC) award to criteria based on climate adaptation and other performance indicators. Speaking at a news briefing, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the current NFC criteria were regressive as population, being the overwhelming consideration, had been made an incentive instead of a disincentive. He said the Centre would seek climate adaptation and other social sector indicators as key determinants for distributing resources with and among the provinces when the NFC meets in August this year. He went on to question the devolution planned under the 18th Amendment and the 7th NFC Award in place since 2009. He said the devolution was incomplete as the provinces had not devolved responsib...