https://www.thestatesman.com/world/paki ... 76438.html
Pakistan hit with $38 billion loss due to FATF grey list
Pakistan was retained on the grey list as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups.
IANS | New Delhi | June 26, 2021
Pakistan has been hit with massive losses to its GDP worth $38 billion because of the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) decision to retain the country on its grey list since 2008, according to a research paper published by the Islamabad-based independent think-tank, Tabadlab.
The paper titled, “Bearing the cost of global politics — the impact of FATF grey-listing on Pakistan’s economy“, has been authored by Naafey Sardar.
This comes against the backdrop of a fresh greylisting tag for Pakistan.
Pakistan was retained on the grey list, or list of countries under “increased monitoring”, as the Paris-based UN watchdog judged it deficient in prosecuting the top leadership of UN Security Council-designated terror groups.
The list includes Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e Mohammad, Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
As per the paper, results suggest that FATF grey-listing, starting in 2008 and till 2019, may have resulted in cumulative real GDP losses of approximately $38 billion.
Moreover, estimates indicate that a large proportion of this response (58 per cent) was driven by the reduction in consumption expenditures (both household and government).
Exports and inward foreign direct investment are also partially responsible for this decline in GDP, with associated cumulative losses of $4.5 billion and $3.6 billion respectively. These results point to the significant negative consequences associated with FATF grey-listing.
The estimates from this paper point to the significant negative implications of FATF’s grey listing for Pakistan, thus emphasizing the need for policymakers to comply with the FATF on the adoption of AML/CFT legislation to avoid future economic losses, it argued.
With the FATF’s latest action, Pakistan, even after ‘largely completing’ 26 of the 27 targets, will remain in the grey list for at least another year and deliver on seven new parallel action points to address deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, The Dawn said in a report.
The watchdog said in a statement that since June 2018, when Pakistan made a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and APG to strengthen its AML/CFT regime and to address its strategic counter terrorist financing-related deficiencies, the country’s continued political commitment has led to significant progress across a comprehensive CFT action plan.
The FATF recognizes Pakistan’s progress and efforts to address these CFT action plan items and notes that since February 2021, Islamabad has made progress to complete two of the three remaining action items on demonstrating that effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions are imposed for TF convictions and that the country’s targeted financial sanctions regime was being used effectively to targeted terrorist assets.
Pakistan has now completed 26 of the 27 action items in its 2018 action plan.
“The FATF encourages Pakistan to continue to make progress to address as soon as possible the one remaining CFT-related item by demonstrating that TF investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN designated terrorist groups.”
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https://www.dawn.com/news/1631302/india ... ni-exports
India’s ‘rice flooding’ hurts Pakistani exports
Amjad Mahmood, June 25, 2021
LAHORE: Subsidised Indian rice is damaging Pakistan’s exports and the government must take up the issue with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) against New Delhi for “jeopardising international food security in violation of its rules,” a representative of local rice traders said on Thursday.
Pakistan rice exports, both Basmati and coarse varieties, during July 2020 to May 2021 (11MFY21) are 14 per cent less than that of the previous year. So far Pakistan has exported 3.3 million tonnes of rice in the 11MFY21 compared to 3.87m tonnes during the same period last year.
“India has offered its rice at an average rate of $360 per tonne while we have been quoting a price of $450 per tonne. This difference of around $100 per tonne has badly damaged our exports,” said Rice Exporters Association Pakistan President Abdul Qayyum Paracha.
Talking to Dawn, Mr Paracha said: “Under the WTO rules, flooding international markets with subsidised food, particularly rice, is an offence. Cambodia, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam all are offering rice export prices at $420 to $430 per tonne then how India could offer the same at $360 per tonne?”Indian Basmati exports hit record volume as it has so far exported 4.3m tonnes of the commodity, he added.
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Gautam