Mustafa Kamal lambasts 'flawed' NFC award distribution formula

Health Minister Mustafa Kamal on Tuesday criticised the formula of fund distribution under the 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 was 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”.

In his remarks, Kamal stated that “neighbouring countries are growing because they have controlled” their population growth.

He added that if the current trajectory of population growth continued, “we will need 64,000 new primary schools”.

“Do we have the capacity in the budget to allocate the resources for it?” he asked. The minister continued that at this rate, “we have to provide jobs to 65 million young people [and] will require 135,000 new beds in hospitals”.

He proposed that a “32pc incentive” had to be provided to every province that was trying to control its population.

He lauded the government’s initiative to remove tax on contraceptives, which was earlier set at 18pc, saying it would reduce the birth rate and it would have a greater impact on the population.

More to follow ...