The World Bank has highlighted sig-nificant disparities in the allocation of development and financial resources between Pakistan’s provincial capitals and other districts, warning that the imbalance is undermining human de-velopment and infrastructure im-provement across the country.<\/p>\n
In its latest report, Strengthening Fiscal Federalism, the World Bank said pro-vincial capitals continue to receive a disproportionately large share of public spending despite improvements following the 2010 Seventh National Finance Commission (NFC) Award.<\/p>\n
According to the report, Balochistan has the widest funding gap, with Quetta receiving 475 per cent more per capita public spending than the prov-ince’s other districts. In Punjab, Lahore receives 440 per cent more, followed by Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 335 per cent and Karachi in Sindh with 178 per cent higher per capita al-locations.<\/p>\n
The report noted that although provin-cial revenues increased after the Sev-enth NFC Award and disparities have narrowed compared to 2009, provincial capitals still command an outsized share of public resources.<\/p>\n
The World Bank observed that budget allocations to districts are often based on factors other than poverty levels, education, healthcare needs, infrastruc-ture deficits or broader socio-economic indicators. As a result, wealthier dis-tricts continue to receive greater re-sources while poorer regions fall fur-ther behind in development.<\/p>\n
The report said the situation is particu-larly concerning in Balochistan, where Quetta receives nearly five times more per capita funding than other districts, despite widespread underdevelopment, limited employment opportunities and persistent security challenges across the province.<\/p>\n
The World Bank also expressed con-cern over the declining fiscal role of local governments. It noted that local governments’ share in total public ex-penditure fell from around 10 per cent in 2005 to just 4.7 per cent in 2024. It added that Provincial Finance Com-missions remain non-functional in most provinces despite constitutional requirements.<\/p>\n
The report further questioned the effec-tiveness of rising public spending on education and health. It said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa achieved relatively better education outcomes despite comparatively lower spending, while Sindh and Balochistan recorded weaker enrollment and literacy indicators despite increased expenditure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
World Bank warns of funding gaps in Pakistan, highlighting disparities in resource allocation between provincial capitals and districts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":76289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[541,292,221,305,1971],"ppma_author":[94],"class_list":["post-76288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uncategorized","tag-development","tag-economy","tag-pakistan","tag-trade","tag-world-bank"],"yoast_head":"\n