ISLAMABAD, May 29: President Pervez Musharraf will chair a meeting next week to forge a consensus on the 6th National Finance Commission (NFC) award due to which the budget for 2004-05 will now be announced on June 12.

A senior official of the ministry of finance told Dawn here on Saturday that all the four chief ministers and their finance ministers will attend the meeting. Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali will also be present during the meeting.

He said that informal talks with the provinces had concluded this week with the provincial finance ministers in which so far no breakthrough could be achieved.

He said that under the circumstances, it was difficult to present the new budget in the National Assembly on June 5 as was earlier announced.

"This will be the last attempt to arrive at some decision in the presence of the president," the official said, adding that the Centre had already agreed to offer 47.4 per cent share to the provinces under the new NFC award.

He claimed that the provinces had accepted to receive 47.4 per cent share, but then hastened to add: "The real issue is their (provinces') own differences over what should become the basis for the resource distribution formula - population, revenue generation, or backwardness".

Responding to a question, the official said that the centre was not in a position to offer 50 per cent share to the provinces and that the president and the prime minister had been informed of this.

In case, he pointed out, the last meeting did not conclude on a positive note then the existing resource distribution formula will continue.