ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has officially constituted the 11th National Finance Commission (NFC 2025) under Article 160 of the Constitution, marking a crucial step towards fair financial distribution across Pakistan’s federation, ARY News reported.
According to the Finance Ministry’s notification, Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb will chair the newly formed commission, while the finance ministers of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Balochistan will serve as ex-officio members.
Each province has nominated an expert representative:
- Punjab: Nasir Mahmood Khosa
- Sindh: Dr. Asad Sayeed
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Dr. Musharraf Rasool Cyan
- Balochistan: Farman Ullah
The NFC 2025 is tasked with advising the president on:
- Distribution of federal tax revenues between federation and provinces
- Grants-in-aid from federal to provinces
- Borrowing powers of both federal and provincial governments
- Financial oversight of national and trans-provincial projects
- Other fiscal issues referred by the president
The Finance Division will act as the NFC Secretariat under the Rules of Business, 1973.
The newly formed body replaces the 10th NFC (established in July 2020). It is noteworthy that the 7th NFC Award—initially meant for five years—remained in force for nearly 15 years due to repeated deadlocks over revenue-sharing formulas between the centre and provinces.
Recently, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Ishaq Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to constitutional stability, emphasizing that “there is no need for the 27th constitutional amendment as the 26th has already been absorbed.”
