IRNA - Pakistan Secretary of Finance Division has warned that Pakistan might face economic sanctions over non-implementation of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) recommendations, local media report.

Talking to media Finance Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said Pakistan had to take strict measures to implement the FATF recommendations.

He said that the country had to proceed against the banned outfits in the light of FATF recommendations. He expressed apprehensions that Pakistan might face economic sanctions if the FATF recommendations were ignored and not implemented.

The International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) of the FATF that reviewed Pakistan’s action plan in recent meetings was not satisfied with the progress on milestones set for January 2019. This was despite improvements in the anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and integrated database for currency declaration arrangements.

The FATF will undertake the next review of Pakistan’s progress in June 2019, which will be preceded by a face-to-face meeting with the Joint Group in May.

In June 2018, Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT laws and to address its strategic counterterrorism financing-related deficiencies by implementing an action plan to accomplish these objectives.

The successful implementation of the action plan and its physical verification by the APG will lead the FATF to clear Pakistan out of its ‘grey list’ or move it into the ‘blacklist’ by September.