The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), a global money laundering and terrorism financing watchdog, announced the removal of Pakistan from a list of countries under “increased monitoring” for terror financing on Friday.
FATF President Raja Kumar informed that the taskforce conducted an onsite visit at the end of August before deciding to remove Pakistan from the “grey list.”
“Pakistan has made significant improvements to strengthen the effectiveness of this framework for combating terrorism financing,” Kumar said.
Removal from the grey list allows easier access to funds from multilateral institutions such as IMF, World Bank, and ADB, among others.
The relief comes as Pakistan is facing economic turmoil, with foreign exchange reserves plummeting below $8 billion.
Welcoming the decision, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the announcement is a “vindication of our determined and sustained efforts over the years."
"I would like to congratulate our civil [and] military leadership as well as all institutions whose hard work led to today's success," the premier added.
Islamabad introduced 21 laws and arrested 33 high-profile people linked to terrorism before coming off the grey list that contributed to its hampered economic progress.
Meanwhile, Congo, Mozambique, and Tanzania were added to FATF's grey list.