The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will decide whether to keep or remove Pakistan from its ‘grey list’ in a virtual meeting of the global financial watchdog scheduled from 21 to 25 June.
Pakistan is hopeful of coming out of the grey list as the country has successfully made progress on 26 points of the 27-point action plan against money laundering and terror financing (ML&TF).
ALSO READ
Government Increases Petrol Prices by Rs. 2.13
On Tuesday, international observers at the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the FATF, including China, the USA, UK, France, and India, virtually reviewed Pakistan’s progress in implementing the 27-point ML&TF action plan.
ICRG has also compiled a preliminary report on Pakistan’s progress on the 27-point action plan that will be presented in the FATF plenary scheduled later this month.
Sources inside Finance Ministry have said that any decision on keeping or removing Pakistan from the grey list will be motivated by political grounds.
Last week, Asia Pacific Group (APG), a regional affiliate of the FATF, decided to retain Pakistan on its “Enhanced Follow-Up” list in its second follow-up report.
ALSO READ
How to Sell on Amazon with Proper Training
However, APG issued a positive evaluation of Pakistan’s overall compliance with FATF recommendations, overruling Pakistan’s chances of moving to FATF’s ‘blacklist.’
In June 2018, the FATF had placed Pakistan on its grey list due to strategic shortcomings in its ML&TF regime after strong lobbying from India supported by the US, the UK, and the European Union (EU).
After Pakistan’s placement on FATF’s grey list, the Pakistani government had committed to a 27-point action plan to remove deficiencies from its ML&TF regime.
