QUETTA, April 17: The National Finance Commission (NFC) award meeting schedule for Friday in Karachi has been postponed and now it would be held on April 26 in Islamabad, Balochistan Finance Minister Syed Ehsan Shah said on Thursday.

Talking to newsmen, he said the postponement was a routine matter and the first meeting on April 26 would be introductory to prepare the agenda for formal deliberations.

Replying to a question, he said Balochistan and other provinces were preparing to present their proposals for the award.

He said Sindh’s perception was that the resources should be distributed on tax collection basis whereas Balochistan stressed that the criteria should be area and backwardness.

He said Balochistan would face a cut of Rs1 billion in the gas royalty given by the federal government because of shortfall in revenue collection.