KARACHI: Following the announcement, the government said it was committed to complying with the FATF evaluation process. "It was also noted by FATF member countries that Pakistan is subject to perhaps the most challenging and comprehensive action plan ever given to any country," federal minister Hammad Azhar wrote on Twitter.

Azhar, who leads Pakistan's effort to implement the FATF roadmap, said the country was "subject to dual evaluation processes of FATF with differing time lines".

Last year, Azhar said that FATF acknowledged that any blacklisting, meaning further downgrading of the country's status, is off the table now.

However, replying to a question, Pleyer said on Thursday that the risk of Pakistan being put on the blacklist had not gone, and that the country must continue to work on outstanding action points to fix its financial monitoring mechanisms.