FATF greylist: Pakistan faces setback at the international forum
Shares
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan will continue to stay on the greylist of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for failing to complete its action plan items twice in January and May 2019.
The international terror financing (TF) watchdog also asked Islamabad to take steps to "address its strategic counter-terrorist financing-related deficiencies".
It further noticed that the country does not “demonstrate a proper understanding of Pakistan's transnational TF risk.”
FATF's Asia-Pacific Group (APG), which met in China in mid-May, was not impressed by Pakistan's action on terror financing. Islamabad was put on the greylist in 2018 which means the country comes under financial jurisdiction with 'structural deficiencies' in anti-money laundering (AML) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) or just supports the financing of terror.
Being on FATF's greylist impacts a weak Pakistani economy which loses $10 billion annually.
In a statement issued after the end of the week-long plenary of FATF in Orlando, Florida, the FAFT strongly urged "Pakistan to swiftly complete its action plan by October 2019 when the last set of action plan items are set to expire."
It further warned, if Islamabad doesn't comply by Oct 2019, "FATF will decide the next step at that time for insufficient progress" which could refer to a possible blacklisting.