FATF has given Pakistan 15 months to comply with requirements: Asad Umar

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Asad Umar informed the Senate on Friday that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had given Pakistan 15 months to comply with its requirements, with the deadline set to expire in September 2019.

The minister said the FATF delegation had travelled to Pakistan earlier this month for a routine evaluation and the visit did not pertain to the greylist. Umar added that the next review of the FATF would take place in Jakarta on September 11 and 12. “27 deficiencies have been identified by the FATF having to deal with currency smuggling, havala and terror financing of proscribed organisations.”

According to Umar, a National Action Committee had been formed to deal with this issue. The committee will be chaired by the finance minister and comprise officials from NAB, FIA and SECP. “We will have our own review on September 8 which will be completed before the next FATF review. Actions which need to be taken have been identified to remove the 27 deficiencies.”

'Trying to address the root cause of borrowing’

The finance minister also informed Senators that the amount of borrowing required by the government according to the budget was $9 billion.

“We are trying to address the root cause behind why these loans are required. We need to take steps to manage these requirements and know this will take time. In the meantime, after calculating the minimum gap we will present a finalized plan which should be done in 1-2 weeks.”