Pakistan needs more legislations to meet remaining FATF benchmarks: Report

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 3 : As Pakistan remains on the 'grey list' of the terror financing watchdog Financial Action Task Force (FATF), it will have to enact laws on at least two counts to meet the outstanding points of the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF) action plan to meet the June deadline.
According to a report by Dawn, aside from further legislations, the Pakistan government will have to submit an updated report within a month to the FATF on the progress on legislation and other steps to be taken to address the outstanding issues.
The Pakistani daily's report said the additional legislation has to cover weaknesses in the existing framework, including apprehending those acting for or on behalf of designated terrorist entities or individuals and prosecuting targeted persons and entities or those working for them.
The three remaining FATF points include demonstrating that terrorist financing (TF) investigations and prosecutions target persons and entities acting on behalf or at the direction of the designated persons or entities; demonstrating that TF prosecutions result in effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions; and demonstrating effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all designated terrorists, specifically those acting for or on their behalf.
Global terror financing watchdog last week retained Pakistan on its "grey list" till June after concluding that Islamabad failed to address its strategically important deficiencies, to fully implement the action plan that the watchdog had drawn up for Pakistan.
The global watchdog had in October last year asked Pakistan to deliver on all 27 points by this February. However, Islamabad failed in this regard.
"To date, Pakistan has made progress across all action plan items and has now largely addressed 24 of the 27 action items. As all action plan deadlines have expired, the FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan before June 2021," FATF said in a statement at the outcome of a plenary last week.
Pakistan's continuation on the 'grey list' means that it will not get any respite in trying to access finances in the form of investments and aid from international bodies including International Monetary Fund (IMF). Pakistan has been on the FATF's grey list since June 2018.
A research paper by an Islamabad-based think tank recently revealed that Pakistan sustained a total of USD 38 billion in economic losses due to FATF's decision.
The research paper titled "Bearing the cost of global politics -- the impact of FATF grey-listing on Pakistan's economy" states that that grey-listing events spanning from 2008 to 2019, may have resulted in total GDP losses worth USD 38 billion, The Express Tribune reported.
The report published by Tabadlab said the losses are worked out on the basis of a decrease in consumption expenditures, foreign direct investment and exports.