The Financial Action Task Force, an inter-governmental body, has upgraded the Philippines to its "grey list" of countries making sufficient progress in their action plans, President Benigno Aquino's spokeswoman Abigail Valte said.
"These reforms (prevented) the Philippines from being classified and downgraded to the 'black list', which would have resulted in stricter inspections of financial transactions in the country," she said in a statement.
The Philippines was previously in the FATF's "dark grey list" of jurisdictions deemed not to be making sufficient progress.
The FATF levied a blacklist threat earlier this year, calling for greater state powers to make it easier to scrutinise bank accounts, as well as casinos, foreign exchange traders and other non-bank entities.