Islamabad: Amid low chances of Pakistan exiting the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list on Thursday, a research paper by an Islamabad-based think tank has revealed that Pakistan sustained a total of USD 38 billion in economic losses due to FATF’ decision to thrice place the country on its grey list since 2008.
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.
According to the research paper, a large portion of total losses can be attributed to the reduction in household and government consumption expenditures.
Pakistan has been on the FATF’s grey list since June 2018 and the government was given a final warning in February 2020 to complete the 27 action points by June in the same year.
Pakistan is facing the difficult task of clearing its name from the FATF grey list. As things stand, Islamabad is finding it difficult to shield terror perpetrators and implement the FATF action plan at the same time.
While the Pakistan government believes that it will be able to delist itself from the FATF’s “grey list”, it is unlikely that it will be able to do so as the European nations have said that Islamabad has not fully implemented all the points of a plan of action set by it.
Dawn quoted a Pakistani journalist based in Paris as confirming that some European countries, especially the host France, had recommended to FATF to continue to keep Pakistan on the “grey list” and had taken the position that not all points had been fully implemented by Islamabad.
The stance has been supported by other European countries as well.