Pakistan to stay in 'grey area' until FATF visit.

ISLAMABAD -- Global dirty money watchdog FATF kept Pakistan on its 'grey list' of countries under increased monitoring on Friday but acknowledged that the country had substantially completed its two action plans, covering 34 items.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) will now make an on-site visit to verify Pakistan's progress in tackling terrorism financing before deciding whether to delist the country.

'Pakistan is not being removed from the grey list today. The country will be removed from the list if it successfully passes the on-site visit,' FATF president Marcus Pleyer told a news conference after the conclusion of a four-day plenary session in Berlin, Germany.

Responding to a question, Mr Pleyer declined to give exact dates for the on-site visit but said the verification process would definitely be completed well before FATF's plenary in October for a final outcome.

He said the on-site visit would be a relatively long one because of two simultaneous action plans of the FATF (of 2018) and its regional affiliate Asia-Pacific Group (of 2021).

The FATF, set up by the G7 group of advanced economies to protect the global financial system, placed Pakistan on its grey list of countries with inadequate controls over terrorism financing in June 2018, which made foreign firms more cautious about investing in Pakistan.

Therefore, observers say that exiting the list has the potential to directly impact foreign inflows in the country, specifically foreign portfolio investment and foreign direct investment.

Earlier, the country remained on the grey list from February 2008 to June 2010 and then from February 2012 to February 2015.

'A great achievement'

Soon after the development, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar congratulated the country, saying the international community had 'unanimously' acknowledged the country's efforts.

'Our success is the result of four years of a challenging journey. Pakistan reaffirms resolve to continue the momentum and give our economy a boost,' she said.

In a video message, Ms Khar said 'now our process of exiting the grey list as per the FATF procedure starts, according to which a technical evaluation team will be sent to Pakistan'.

'It's our full effort that this team completes its work before October's plenary cycle and we have told them that we will ensure their comfort and ease,' she said, adding that the process would end in October.

The military media wing ISPR also noted that...