Pakistan likely to avoid the FATF ‘grey list’

The Financial Action Task Force is all set to decide this Sunday, in France, on whether to put Pakistan on a “watch list” after it accused Pakistan of being lenient to groups exploiting country’s financial system to their advantage even as those groups were banned and sanctioned by the United Nations.

United States along with her allies has been considering to put Pakistan on the said watch list since the last eight years, arguing the ineffective actions of Pakistan to put the terror and other outfits in check. Pakistan has been responding with one or the other action plan just before the FATF is to take a decision in an effort to influence the review, however, the situation is quite different this time around.

Pakistan’s recent fallout with the United States has prompted the country to take a strong stance against Pakistan’s inefficiency to deliver on her commitments.

A meeting is to be held on 18^th of February, 2018 at Paris, France in which 35 member states will contemplate on Pakistan’s case. China, Russia, Turkey, Malaysia, India and others are part of the decision making team.

However, the decision is expected to be given in Pakistan’s favor as the voting process requires all members to vote in favor of the review for the resolution to passed, if only one member opposes the decision, it will not be put into effect.

Policy analysts and experts argue that Pakistan is not be dropped into ‘Grey List’ given that Pakistan’s allies are expected to vote against the decision. However, the welcome initiative is Pakistan taking a decision to act against the banned outfits and limit their exposure to financial markets.