FATF greylisting of Pakistan will not effect dealings with IMF, WB or others: International experts
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WASHINGTON - The grey-listing of a country by the global watchdog FATF has no direct consequences for its ability to borrow from the IMF, a top official said.
The remarks comes days after the Paris-based 37-nation Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed Pakistan on the grey list last month.
“Any decision to list a country as a jurisdiction with strategic AML/CFT (Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism) deficiencies is the responsibility of the FATF only.
I would note that a grey-listing has no direct consequences for a member country’s ability to borrow from the IMF,” Tao Zhang, IMF deputy managing director, told PTI.
“Pakistan completed an IMF-supported programme under the Extended Fund Facility in September 2016. While the programme was successful in its objective of macroeconomic stabilisation, and some progress was made on structural reforms, the agenda remained incomplete,” Zhang said.
Early this week, the IMF noted with concern the weakening of the macroeconomic situation, including a widening of external and fiscal imbalances, a decline in foreign exchange reserves, and increased risks to Pakistan’s economic and financial outlook and its medium term debt sustainability.
In this context, they urged a determined effort by the authorities to refocus near term policies to preserve macroeconomic stability.
