ISLAMABAD, May 25: The provincial finance ministers will meet on Thursday at the Balochistan House here to make a last-ditch effort to reach some understanding on the sixth National Finance Commission (NFC) Award. The sources said it was certain that if an accord was not reached, the existing award would be extended to next year through a presidential order. In view of this, the Balochistan government offered to host provincial finance ministers’ meeting to see if a way out could be found.

The federal government, the sources said, had told provinces that if they reached consensus on the horizontal distribution of resources, it could be accommodated in the divisible pool even after the announcement of the federal budget.

The sources said that Sindh’s new demand for inclusion of personal income tax and retail sales tax continued to be an irritant for other provinces, particularly Punjab and the NWFP in reaching consensus on horizontal distribution of resources.

The Punjab government considers this demand as unconstitutional and says it means increase in disparities among the people of different parts of the country.

Sources close to Balochistan finance minister Ehsan Shah said that a team of financial leadership spent three days in Karachi recently and almost finalized a deal with Sindh’s authorities on the question of gas development surcharge.

The sources said that Sindh was required to give its final response after consultation with the top leadership which was likely on Thursday.

Sources in the Sindh government, however, denied such an understanding and said Balochistan should get the GDS from Punjab and the NWFP who were utilizing gas coming from Balochistan.