{
  "id": 8133807,
  "title": "Kayani for fed-provincial alignment, local devolution",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/kayani-for-fed-provincial-alignment-local-devolution",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-18T00:15:22.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Business Recorder",
    "slug": "business-recorder",
    "url": "https://www.brecorder.com/news/40440087/kayani-for-fed-provincial-alignment-local-devolution"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "On Thursday, Finance Minister Bilal Azhar Kayani advocated for closer cooperation between federal and provincial governments and the decentralization of resources and authority to local levels. He emphasized that development spending must lead to tangible improvements in citizens' lives. Kayani pointed out that while Pakistan's recent economic progress was significant, it was not sufficient, highlighting the ongoing issue of foreign exchange reserve depletion following economic growth cycles. Speaking at the ninth Leaders in Islamabad Business Summit, organized by Nutshell Group, he stressed the importance of stronger federal-provincial coordination, equitable distribution of resources under the National Finance Commission (NFC), and empowering local governments to deliver better public services. Kayani also highlighted Pakistan's record foreign exchange reserves, regained access to the international bond market, and improved sovereign credit ratings, but cautioned that economic achievements alone were insufficient; they must be sustained to break the recurring cycle of boom and bust, especially the pattern of declining foreign exchange reserves when growth picked up. Addressing fiscal federalism, he noted that provincial development spending last year was about Rs3.2 trillion, compared to roughly Rs1.1 trillion at the federal level, stressing the necessity to align resources with responsibilities. Kayani advocated for granting more powers to local authorities to resolve issues closer to the people and stressed the importance of fair NFC distribution, warning that a weakness in any province would ultimately impact the entire country. On economic policy, he emphasized the need for private-sector participation in policymaking, underlining the importance of ongoing consultation between the government and businesses for sustainable economic stability. He noted that the government had engaged the private sector in budgetary measures to create fiscal space and had reduced tax rates where feasible, aligning with business priorities. The minister also focused on the export sector and measures related to business taxation, employees' taxes, and IT exports.",
  "summary": "ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Finance Bilal Azhar Kayani on Thursday called for greater alignment between federal and provincial governments and devolution of resources and powers to the local level, saying development spending must translate into visible improvements in people’s lives. “Pakistan’s recent economic gains were important but “not enough”, stressing that the key challenge was to…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}