Kamal lambasts 'flawed' NFC award distribution formula in NA

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday criticised the formula of fund distribution under National Finance Commission (NFC) award — which is based on the size of every provinces’ population — as “flawed”. In his remarks during an address to the National Assembly, where a debate on the federal budget fiscal year 2026-27 was ongoing, Kamal noted that the NFC formula is 82 per cent population based. “What province will reduce its income by controlling the population?” he asked. “Balochistan is the smallest province [population wise] and gets the lowest share [in the NFC]. If it wants to get [a larger] share like Punjab, it will have to increase its population,” he pointed out, adding the distribution of funds based on population was the “biggest flaw” in the system. Without mentioning the name of any country, the health minister added that, “In our neighbouring country, the weightage of population in the NFC award is 17pc,” while the rest was based on “revenue, backwardness, income and other areas”. More to follow