PESHAWAR, Dec 22: The NWFP government is not likely to receive the full amount Islamabad had pledged to provide it as grant to support district governments during the financial year 2003-04, officials say.

The province’s current revenue receipts estimates include an amount of Rs1.09 billion that was projected to be received from the federal government as grant in lieu of octroi and district tax for onward distribution among 24 district governments during the current financial year.

However, the province’s chances of receiving the amount diminished in view of resources transferred to the province under this head during the first five months of the current financial year, an official said.

Sources said at the close of the first four months of the current financial year, the NWFP had received only Rs290 million.

The amount rose to around Rs 350 million by the end of the fifth month of the financial year after, the same source added.

On a proportionate basis, said another official, the province should have been transferred around Rs456.45 million for the first five months of the current financial year against which it received less than Rs400 million.

Officials said that the shortfall of funds transferred had lent a negative impact to the district governments’ financial position, adding that local governments were facing an acute financial crisis.

In an attempt to extend help in this regard, the federal government had announced to make a special allocation under the head of general sales tax.

Out of the total annual revenue under the head of GST, 2.5 per cent funds were to be transferred to provinces for onward distribution among their respective district governments as grant.

One of the official sources expressed the hope that transfers under this head might record improvement during the fourth quarter of the current financial year.

“The Central Board of Revenue’s receipts under the head of GST records an improvement in the last quarter. One can hope that transfers to provinces for distribution among the district government may also improve in the same period,” said an official of the provincial government.

Against the annual projection of slightly over a billion rupees for the 2002-03, the province ended up with an amount of over Rs971 million, Rs37 million less than the originally projected amount.