PESHAWAR, April 18: NWFP experienced a shortfall of Rs1.45 billion in direct transfers from the federal divisible pool (FDP) during July-March 2002-03, according to official sources.

The NWFP government received over Rs14.7 billion from the FDP during the first nine months of the current fiscal year, around Rs1.45 billion less than the amount it should have received on proportionate basis.

According to the federal government estimates for the financial year 2002-03, NWFP was to get Rs21.5 billion during the current financial year. In this way, the sources said, the province was supposed to get Rs16.2 billion during the July-March period against which releases from the FDP remained at Rs14.7 billion.

The provincial finance managers expressed ignorance as to why NWFP was not released full amount of the proportionate share during the period under review after the Central Board of Revenue achieved its target of revenue collection during the same period.

The CBR collected over Rs310.3 billion during the first nine months of 2002-03, marginally surpassing the Rs310-billion collection target — out of a total annual target of Rs460.6 billion. Releases to the province(s) from the FDP were made in accordance with the revenue collection by the CBR, the sources said.

During the first five-year operations of the current NFC Award, the FDP releases to the provinces remained much lower than the amount all the four federating units had separately been projected for each of the five years — chiefly because the CBR missed the revenue collection target in all those five years.

However, the funds disbursement from the FDP during the current financial year recorded marked improvement if compared with the last financial year. Against a total amount of Rs14.7 billion released to NWFP in nine months of current fiscal, the province received Rs11.4 billion in the corresponding period of the financial year 2001-02. This reflects the province received Rs3.25 billion more than the last financial year.