WASHINGTON: Ishaq Dar, the finance minister, expressed hope on Sunday night that Pakistan will not be added to the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “black list” after the watchdog organisation visited the country.
Pakistan finished the FATF action plans in June, but the watchdog nonetheless maintained the country on the list since the removal was contingent on an on-site visit.The Foreign Office reported that the watchdog team’s visit in September was “smooth and successful.
” Ishaq Dar stated during a news conference in Washington that Pakistan made a concerted effort to remove itself off the FATF’s “black list,” and that the government is hopeful that it would succeed when a meeting is scheduled for a few days.
On October 20 and 21, the first FATF Plenary under T Raja Kumar’s two-year Singapore Presidency will take place, and on the final day of the meeting, the watchdog will conduct a news conference to reveal its findings.The FATF Asia Pacific Group called on Pakistan to take additional steps in October 2018 to stop money laundering and providing financial support to terrorists.
The US visit
During his travel to the United States, Dar stated that the tour’s goal was to attend meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) and to reassure these financial institutions of Pakistan’s commitment to maintaining its economic policies.
The finance minister insisted that Pakistan will keep all of its commitments to the IMF and World Bank while claiming that the international lenders had ordered him not to provide subsidies.
According to the finance minister, the World Bank and other international organisations anticipated that Pakistan’s losses from the floods would total $32.4 billion.Reason behind Biden’s assertion:
In response to remarks made by US Vice President Joe Biden over Pakistan’s nuclear programme, Dar claimed that Washington expressed concerns and scepticism because of PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s careless statement.
However, he continued, “Pakistan’s command and control system is in secure and powerful hands; it was safe from 2013 to 2018 and it will be.The president of the United States had claimed that Pakistan was one of the most dangerous countries in the world and that its nuclear programme lacked “cohesion.”
