FATF retains Pakistan on its ‘Grey List’ of countries, while three new countries added

Global terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has retained Pakistan and added three more countries to its Grey List. In a briefing, FATF president Marcus Pleyer said that three new countries — Turkey, Jordan, and Mali — have been added to the Grey List. 

Pakistan has addressed 30 of the 34 action plan items, and only four action items remain to be completed. In June 2021, FATF gave three months to Pakistan, to fulfill the remaining conditions by October.

Pakistan continues to remain on the “increased monitoring list”, he said at a virtual press conference from Paris. Increased monitoring list is another name for the ‘Grey List’.

Pakistan has been on the Grey List by the FATF since June 2018 due to deficiencies in its counter-terror financing and anti-money laundering regimes and failure to comply with the FATF mandates. Being in the grey list, Pakistan cannot get financial aid from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), and the European Union.