PESHAWAR, Nov 20: NWFP has received around Rs5 billion from the federal divisible pool (FDP) during the first four months of the current financial year, apparently getting limited the scope what it has projected to receive from the said amount in the financial year 2002-03.

“The position of FDP releases is expected to improve in the months to come, but there is least possibility that the province would get what the Centre has projected to release it during the financial year 2002-03,” according to sources in the provincial cabinet.

Islamabad has to release Rs21.6 billion to NWFP from the FDP.

After having received about Rs5 billion during the first four months, the province is supposed to get another Rs16.6 billion during the remaining eight months of the on-going financial year.

“It appears to be really very difficult,” said the sources, apprehending that the new provincial government “would in no way get the said amount keeping in view the resource distribution situation for the last four financial years”.

During the last financial year the province had initially projected to receive Rs21.5 billion from the FDP.

The projection got shrunk by over Rs2 billion at the close of the last financial year after the revised budgetary estimates of the federal government put the NWFP’s FDP share at around Rs19.4 billion.

In actual, according to a former finance secretary of the province, the province even did not receive the FDP share in accordance with the downward revised budgetary estimated, apparently, due to resource shortfall recorded by the Central Board of Revenue.

The NWFP government’s budget documents for the current financial year, at least at one place, contained that the province would receive around Rs1 billion less than the amount it had projected under the federal government’s revised budgetary estimates for the financial year 2001-02.

Official sources apprehended that if the FDP transfers to NWFP did not improve during the next couple of months the future provincial government would be left with no option but to rely heavily on the State Bank’s overdraft facility.

The looming financial crisis — in continuation with the last several financial years — has been seen imminent in view of the non-payment of a single rupee by Wapda to NWFP out of its Rs6 billion capped share of net hydel profit for the financial year 2002-03.

“Wapda has not started paying net hydel profit share to NWFP, though four months of the current financial year have passed,” said the sources.