ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday expressed confidence it would be removed from the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) gray list, because of laws passed by the government to curb money laundering and terror financing as per the global watchdog's requirements.
In 2018, the FATF placed Pakistan, a country of 220 million people, on its ‘gray list’ of countries with inadequate controls over terror financing, and gave the country a 27-step action plan to execute, including passing new laws.
“Very soon Pakistan will be on the white list of the FATF," Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday ahead of the FATF's plenary virtual meeting from October 21-23 in Paris.
Speaking at a public gathering in Multan, located in Pakistan's Punjab province, the foreign minister said Pakistan would participate in the virtual meeting with the support of friendly countries, including the United States.
“We have been asked to take action on a 27 point action plan… We have fully complied on 21 points and [on the] remaining 6 points, we have done 80 percent work,” Qureshi said.
Last month, the government passed three laws to comply with FATF's requirements to strength Pakistan's financial system and counter terror financing and money laundering.
Islamabad is scheduled to submit a compliance report to the FATF this month. Being blacklisted could mean Pakistan would be shunned by major international financial institutions, and cause further economic hardships for the financially strapped country.
A minimum of three votes by FATF members are needed to avoid the organization’s blacklist, and Pakistan has so far managed to stay off the blacklist due to the support of China and other friendly countries, including Malaysia and Turkey.
