ISLAMABAD, April 14: President Gen Pervez Musharraf on Wednesday directed the federal and provincial governments to immediately finalize the sixth National Finance Commission award with mutual understanding.

Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz told Dawn that the president had a meeting with the four chief ministers at the Rawalpindi Camp office on Wednesday. The president told the CMs that the federal government also had its own and other expenditures which should also be taken into account.

Mr Aziz said the president asked the chief ministers to sit with the federal finance minister and resolve the NFC issue. The president also asked the finance minister to accommodate the provinces as much as possible.

The chief ministers told the president that they would have to consult their respective finance ministers and get back to the federal government for further deliberations. The president also asked the CMs not to insist on population as the sole criterion, according to the sources.

When asked whether Punjab had given up insisting on population-based distribution of resources among the provinces and agreed to a multi-factor formula, the minister said: "Everybody is moving now and things are improving".

He said everybody had realized that a delay in the NFC award would benefit none. The president's meeting triggered a chain of hectic and back-to-back consultations both at the federal and provincial levels. Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz had a meeting with secretary finance and his team in the evening that was followed by his another meeting with the four chief ministers at the Punjab House.

Mr Aziz said the meeting was hosted by Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervez Elahi. The provinces, however, stuck to their stated positions in the meeting and no breakthrough could be achieved. Chief minister Punjab Pervez Elahi told reporters afterwards: "The provinces have repeated their positions".

Sindh finance minister Syed Sardar Ahmad said the federal government was now offering 47 per cent out of the divisible pool to the provinces which was even lower than the National Finance Commission committee under the non-elected military government.

He said when the NFC negotiation had broken down in 2002, the military government had offered a total of 47.8, including subventions, 2.5 per cent GST and 40 per cent share of divisible pool. Now, if the elected provincial governments accepted something below 50 per cent, how would they go to the public? he queried.