Pakistan taken off FATF's grey list for terror financing, money laundering

Pakistan has been taken off from the grey list of the FATF, the global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering, four years after the country was put in the infamous categorisation.

Significantly, for the first time, the FATF put Myanmar in the "high risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action", often referred to as the watchdog's black list.

In a statement, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) said it welcomes Pakistan's significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering, combating financial terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

The decision was taken by the FATF in its plenary held in Paris on October 20-21.

"Pakistan has strengthened the effectiveness of its AML/CFT regime and addressed technical deficiencies to meet the commitments of its action plans regarding strategic deficiencies that the FATF identified in June 2018 and June 2021, the latter of which was completed in advance of the deadlines, encompassing 34 action items in total.

"Pakistan is therefore no longer subject to the FATF's increased monitoring process. Pakistan will continue to work with APG to further improve its AML/CFT system," the statement said.

With Pakistan's exit from the "grey list", Islamabad may now try to get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union (EU), to boost its cash-strapped economy.