Terror financing: FATF to decide Pakistan's fate today

(Karachi) The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will announce its decision today whether Pakistan has done enough to exit the grey-list as its four-day plenary meeting concludes, local media reported on Thursday.

As per details, the outcomes of the FATF plenary is expected to be announced at 9:30pm (16:30 GMT).

Prior to the plenary which began on Monday, the FATF had updated the overall performance of all countries. The overall performance shows that Pakistan has improved compliance on two out of 40 recommendations of the FATF on effectiveness of anti-money laundering and combating financing terror (AML/CFT) systems.

The FATF finds Pakistan’s progress non-compliant on four counts, partially compliant on 25 counts and largely compliant on nine recommendations. Pakistan’s evaluation at the plenary will be based on the 27-point action plan and not on these 40 recommendations.

However, officials said the plenary could discuss all options, including blacklisting Pakistan, keeping it in the grey list or removing it from the grey list.

There are, however, no chances that Pakistan could be put in the blacklist because it has at least three members of the FATF — China, Turkey and Malaysia — who can sustain all pressures against any downgrade.