FATF takes off Pakistan from ‘Grey List’

NEW DELHI — The global financial watchdog, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has removed Pakistan from its Grey List.

The decision was taken by the FATF hybrid plenary meeting which met in Berlin and was the final one under the two-year Germany Presidency of Marcus Pleyer.

Though a formal announcement will be made later in the day, sources said Pakistan was found in compliance with all the 34 aspects it was asked to improve upon.

The move will enable Pakistan to access loans at cheaper interest rates as well as lower the risk of investing in the country.

A major topic discussed was updates to the jurisdictions under the Increased Monitoring list (often referred to as the FATF grey list). In addition, the FATF plenary considered a report that will help the real estate sector to better detect and prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.

At the previous FATF plenary in March, FATF had retained Pakistan and included the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with which India signed a free trade agreement less than a month back, in the list of jurisdictions requiring increased monitoring or the Grey List.

Though Pakistan receives bad press, in all, there were 17 countries on the Grey List. As against a handful of deficiencies, other countries have many more. Burkina Faso has 10 deficiencies, Senegal and Haiti nine; Philippines, South Sudan, Myanmar, Mali and Jordan eight each; Uganda seven, Turkey two, Barbados, Yemen, Albania, Cambodia and Jamaica four each; and The Cayman Islands two.

FATF has now appointed T. Raja Kumar of Singapore as the next President for a fixed two-year term from July 1.