FATF’s session to decide whether Pakistan stays in or out of ‘grey list’

PARIS (92 News) – The all-important plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will start in Paris today to decide whether Pakistan stays in or out of the ‘grey list’. According to the reports, a five-day plenary session of the FATF will begin in Paris, to assess Pakistan’s performance on the compliance of the 27 points to curb terror financing and money laundering would be reviewed. A delegation of Pakistan led by Minister for Economic Affairs, Hammad Azhar, has been in Paris to attend session of the FATF. The sources said that the task force will decide on Pakistan’s exit from its grey list or retaining the country in the list. Pakistan has already made substantial progress over compliance of the recommendations of the task force. In the last session of the FATF, India had opposed removal of Pakistan from the grey list, while the United States and the European Union had backed Islamabad’s efforts in line with the FATF guidelines. China, Turkey and the Malaysia are already supporting Pakistan, while it is expected that Pakistan can get more support from the member countries due to its positive diplomacy. The FATF, an international watchdog that works to counter money laundering, may extend the duration of the 'grey list' it has placed Pakistan on for another six months to ensure the country gets enough time to adopt legislative measures to restructure its banking system in line with the best international practices. If Islamabad comes out of the 'grey list', it will be easy for the country to receive financial aid from international and multinational lenders such as the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Asian Development Bank and the European Union on easy terms and conditions. Pakistan was placed on the ‘grey list’ by the Paris-based watchdog in June 2018 and was given a plan of action to complete by October 2019 or face the risk of being placed on the watchdog's blacklist, along with Iran and North Korea.