WASHINGTON: Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Sunday night expressed hope that Pakistan will be removed from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) gray list as the watchdog will announce its decision after an on-site visit.
In June, Pakistan completed the FATF’s action plans but the watchdog still kept the nation on the gray list because removal was subject to site visits.
The watchdog team carried out its visit in September and the Foreign Office said it was “smooth and successful”.
In his press conference in Washington, the finance minister said that Pakistan has worked hard to get out of FATF’s gray list and now a meeting is expected in a few days and the government hopes that the country will get out of it.
The first FATF plenary under Singapore’s two-year chairmanship of T Rajakumar will be held on 20-21 October, while the watchdog will hold a press conference to announce its findings on the closing day of the meeting.
In October 2018, the FATF Asia-Pacific Group called on Pakistan to take further action to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Following a meeting in Paris in June 2018, the Paris-based organization formally added Pakistan to the “grey list” of countries with insufficient controls to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
The organization can make recommendations to any of the countries that have signed the membership charter, as well as other nations, but it has no power to impose sanctions.
Visit America
On the occasion of his visit to America, Dar said that the purpose of the visit was to attend the meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and to assure these financial institutions that Pakistan will continue its economic policies. .
The finance minister said that the international lenders have asked him not to give the subsidy while he also said that Pakistan will fulfill all the commitments made to the IMF and the World Bank.
Talking about the financial difficulties faced by Pakistan due to floods, the finance minister said that the World Bank and other international organizations have estimated the losses at 32.4 billion dollars.
“Also, $16 billion has been earmarked for the flood rehabilitation program in the country, while the government is already working on a rehabilitation program for the flood victims,” ​​he said.
The reason behind Biden’s statement
Reacting to US President Joe Biden’s statement about Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Dar said PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s irresponsible statement had created fears and doubts in Washington.
But Pakistan’s command and control system is safe and in strong hands, it was safe from 2013 to 2018 and will remain so.
The US president had alleged that Pakistan’s nuclear program lacked “coherence” and was among the most dangerous countries in the world.
This statement of the US President was severely criticized by Pakistan, Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the statement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) also handed over a “strong” demarche to US Ambassador to Pakistan Donald Bloom.
