Pakistan out of FATF's grey list after 4 years

Tags: International News

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on 21 October excluded Pakistan from the 'grey list' of the global watchdog on terror financing and money laundering after four years.

Important facts

• A meeting of the Financial Action Task Force, a Paris-based organization that monitors terrorist funding and money laundering cases, was held in Paris, in which the final decision was taken whether to keep Pakistan in the gray list or not.

• After the meeting, Pakistan was announced to be out of the grey list. India has expressed strong opposition to this decision and termed it as an unfortunate decision.

• Pakistan needed 12 votes out of 39 to exit the grey list and move to white list. 

• To avoid the blacklist, it needed the support of three countries, China, Turkey and Malaysia, which are its supporters.

• Pakistan was put on the 'Grey List' in 2018 for its failure to investigate the risk of money laundering, leading to corruption and terror financing.

• With Pakistan remaining on the grey list, it became difficult for Islamabad to get financial aid from the IMF, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Union, thus adding to the problems for the cash-starved country.

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• It was formed in the year 1989 at the meeting of G-7 countries held in Paris.

• It works to generate the necessary political will to bring about legislative and regulatory reforms in the world on issues like money laundering, terror funding.

• Headquarters - Located in the headquarters of the Organisation for the Development of Economic Co-operation (OECD) in Paris.

• Member Countries - 39 member countries including India and 2 regional organisations (European Commission and Gulf Cooperation Council).

• India became a member of FATF in the year 2010.

• Its sessions are held three times a year.

• Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President - Raja Kumar

List of FATF 

• Gray List – Countries that are considered safe havens for supporting terror funding and money laundering are placed on the FATF gray list.

• Black List - Countries identified as non-cooperative countries or regions are included in the black list. These countries support terrorist funding and money laundering activities.

Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) are currently on the Black List.