Kathmandu [Nepal], March 5 (ANI): Nepal's Finance Minister Bishnu Paudel promised that Nepal will be out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list for money laundering and terrorist financing before the given deadline of two years.

Responding to lawmakers' queries during Wednesday's session, Finance Minister Paudel blamed the previous government for being included in the FATF list.

'We are under intensive monitoring, which in commonly understood language is called the grey list. The government is committed; within the given time period we will complete all the procedures that are designated and will be out from list. Though, this government only was not responsible for the country being enlisted in the grey list,' Paudel said.

'I will appear before the parliament with the white paper (very soon) and will give further details about it. In order to make a comeback, the government will take serious and sincere steps which will be supported by the results. We still have time of two years but we won't be using it fully, we are confident that our country's name will be out of the grey list early,' the Minister added.

It is the second time that the Himalayan nation has been enlisted in the grey list of FATF. The latest decision came during the FATF plenary meeting held in Paris on February 17-21.

Earlier, Nepal was on the FATF grey list from 2008-2014. It has to cleanse its financial sector within two years or the country will fall into the black list where it will face more international transaction hurdles and sanctions.

In an update following its latest plenary, the FATF, a global anti-money laundering watchdog, on February 21 announced that Laos and Nepal was added onto list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring.

The grey list, officially termed 'jurisdictions under increased monitoring,' includes countries with strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering (AML) and counter-terrorist financing (CFT) regimes, but which are actively working with the FATF to address these issues.

Any county that is placed on the list is given two years to come out from the list by improvement in legislation, their implementation, and taking action against illegal money and money laundering, among other measures.

Nepal's placement on the grey list stems from its failure to fully implement necessary legal, policy, and structural reforms to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, despite some legislative progress.

Nepal was given a deadline of October 2024 to meet FATF standards following an extension in July 2023. However, the international body found that the country had not sufficiently addressed these deficiencies by the deadline.

In the new situation, the government will need to strictly enforce measures in management of illegally earned assets in order to take the country out from the grey list. (ANI)