PESHAWAR, Nov 15: NWFP has received around Rs265m during the first four months of the current financial year out of its share calculated under the 2.5 per cent additional general sales tax (GST) allocation the federal government has specified for provinces for the 2002-03 financial year, according to official sources.

A sum of Rs32bn would be distributed among the four provinces during the current financial year in line with the federal government’s decision of allocating 2.5 per cent additional resources to the federating units under the GST head.

Out of this amount, according to the sources, an amount of Rs20bn would be distributed on the basis of provinces’ annual share determined by the last Nawaz Sharif government after the abolition of zila tax and octroi and the remaining amount of Rs12bn would be distributed among them on the basis of population.

As per this arrangement, the NWFP is supposed to get Rs1008.393m on the basis of its ‘historical’ share under the funds annually transferred to the provinces in lieu of octroi and zila tax. The amount has also been reflected in the NWFP government’s budget document for the current financial year.

Apart from that, said the sources, the federal authorities concerned recently intimated to the provincial government that the province would also get some Rs1.6bn as its share from the Rs12bn amount which would be distributed among the provinces on the basis of population.

In this way the province is supposed to get over Rs2.6bn out of the total Rs32bn to be distributed among the provinces during the current financial year.

Out of the Rs265m released to the province during the first four months of the current financial year a sum of Rs93m was released at the end of July, Rs37m in August, Rs63m in September and Rs72m at the end of October.

The amount released to the province appeared to be much less than the amount the province is supposed to receive in four months, casting doubt over the projected amount for the current financial year.

The province, said the sources, should have received Rs336m at the close of the first four months of the current financial year on proportionate basis.

The sources said that disbursements to provinces - out of 2.5 per cent additional GST allocation - would be made in accordance with the actual recovery to be made under the GST head by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR).

After receiving Rs265m in four months, the province is left with the shortfall of Rs743m during the remaining eight months of the current fiscal year if it gets Rs1008m reflected under the provincial government’s budget document.

Whereas, in accordance with the total annual share of Rs2.6bn out of the total Rs32bn to be distributed among the provinces the NWFP is to get Rs2.3bn during the remaining eight months of the current fiscal. However, this has been seen as a remote possibility by the senior government functionaries.