Pakistan avoids terror financing blacklist for now

Financial Action Task Force (FATF) President Xiangmin Liu gestures as he speaks during a media conference at the OECD headquartersin Paris, Friday, Oct. 18, 2019. FATF a international monitoring agency has given Pakistan four months to prove it is fighting terrorism financing and money laundering or it could be put on a damaging global blacklist. (AP)

• Financial Action Task Force announced the decision after meetings at its Paris headquarters
• FATF gave Pakistan four months to prove it is fighting terrorism financing and money laundering

PARIS: An international monitoring agency has given Pakistan four months to prove it is fighting terrorism financing and money laundering — or be put on a blacklist.
That’s a reprieve for Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan as he works to improve his country’s faltering economy and attract foreign investment and loans.
The Financial Action Task Force announced the decision Friday after meetings at its Paris headquarters.
It expressed “serious concerns with the overall lack of progress by Pakistan” to stop terrorism financing. It said Pakistan has only addressed five of 27 measures required by the agency.
If Pakistan doesn’t act by February, the agency said it could issue warnings to international financial institutions about doing business with Pakistan.
Iran and North Korea are currently the only countries on the group’s blacklist.