ISLAMABAD - The federal government has transferred Rs1.65 trillion to the four provinces under National Finance Commission (NFC) Award that enabled the provinces to give surplus budget during nine months of current financial year.

The provincial governments have recorded budget surplus of Rs174.2 billion during July-March mainly due to the revenue received from the federal government under NFC.

The provinces expenditures remained at Rs2010.4 billion as compared to the revenues of Rs2184.6 billion. The provincial governments' surplus budget of Rs174.2 billion helped the federal government to restrict the budget at 4.3 percent of the GDP.  The federal government projected the provincial governments to provide Rs347 billion surplus over the full fiscal year, according to the documents of ministry of finance.

The federal government had transferred 71 percent of the revised annual estimated amount of Rs2.316 trillion during nine months to the four provinces.

In the first nine months, the provinces were supposed to receive 75 percent (around Rs1.74 trillion) of the total revised estimated amount of Rs2. 31 trillion from the Centre.

However, the government transferred almost Rs88.12 billion lesser to the provinces despite healthy growth in tax collection. The federal government had already slashed the provinces share under NFC Award by Rs68.2 billion during ongoing fiscal year due to Federal Board of Revenue (FBR)'s inability to meet tax collection target.  The federal government would transfer Rs2.31 trillion to the four provinces under NFC Award during FY2018 as against the budgeted amount of Rs2.384 trillion.

The Punjab government's revenue has recorded at Rs1.036 trillion as compared to the expenditures of Rs1.018 trillion making surplus of Rs17.25 billion.

The Punjab government has received Rs801.7 billion from the federal government during nine months of the current fiscal year, which is 70.4 percent of the annual share of Rs1138.4 billion.

The Sindh province has registered budget surplus of Rs74.1 billion as its revenues remained at Rs603.1 billion as against expenditures of Rs529.1 billion. The Sindh government has received Rs418.1 billion from the federal government during July to March of the year 2017-18. Sindh would receive Rs584.3 billion during entire current fiscal year.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's revenue has recorded at Rs361.4 billion as against its expenditures Rs321.4 billion making surplus of Rs40 billion. The province has received Rs269.3 billion from the federal government under NFC during nine months. The KP received one percent additional funds under the NFC Award due to the war on terror.

The Balochistan province has given budget surplus of Rs42.9 billion as its expenditures recorded at Rs141.2 billion as compared to the revenues of Rs184.1 billion. The province has received Rs160 billion in nine months from the federal government, which is 75.37 percent of Rs212.6 billion to be released in the ongoing financial year under NFC.