ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb on Thursday called for a rethinking of how federal funds are allocated to provinces, arguing that future disbursements should reflect human development indicators instead of just population size.
Speaking at an event organized by the Ministry of National Health Services in connection with World Population Day in the federal capital, Aurangzeb said Pakistan’s rapid population growth posed a serious challenge and must be addressed through coordinated, long-term policy interventions.
“As we move forward with revisiting and reviewing the NFC [National Finance Commission] award, the current allocation driver must be reconsidered,” he said while addressing the gathering.
“There are broader factors, such as human development indicators, which should be incorporated,” he added. “These can help shape a revised formula for how we divvy up resources between the federation and the provinces.”
The NFC is a constitutional mechanism that determines how financial resources are distributed from the federal government to Pakistan’s provinces. The existing formula primarily weighs population, though there are several influential voices within the government demanding that future formulas consider a broader range of development metrics.
