Mr Ken Ofori-Atta, the Minister of Finance, on Wednesday announced that Ghana has been taken off the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) “grey list”.
He said the FATF decided at their plenary meeting held on June 23, 2021, where it was unanimously agreed that Ghana had satisfactorily completed her Action Plan after the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG) had submitted their report.
The Minister speaking at a press conference in Accra, said by the decision, FATF and, for that matter, the international community had renewed its confidence in Ghana’s Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.
Mr Ofori-Atta stated that the decision was a great relief for the country, considering the economic consequences suffered by the government while on the list.
He said the decision would boost confidence in the integrity of the country’s economic environment and also boost foreign direct investment.
Giving a background of the “grey list”, the Minister said in 2016, Ghana was subjected to the Second Round of Mutual Evaluation by the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa.
He said Ghana was the first among her peers in the West African sub-region to go through the Second Round of Mutual Evaluation.
Mr Ofori-Atta added that even though that round of mutual evaluation showed some progress in an earlier one in 2009, there were still significant gaps that needed to be addressed.
The Minister said, as a result, Ghana was placed under observation by the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), one of the technical groups of the FATF charged with the responsibility of identifying, reviewing, and monitoring jurisdictions with AML/CFT deficiencies that presented a risk to the international financial system.
Mr Ofori-Atta noted that the ICRG and Ghana developed a two-year Action Plan spanning 2019 – 2021 with timelines to address the deficiencies.
He further disclosed that following the ICRG plan and FATF acknowledgement, the European Union also issued a press release on October 18, 2020, adding Ghana to their list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime as a result of Ghana being on the FATF list.
Mr Ofori-Atta said that an Inter-Ministerial Committee led by the Ministry of Finance had been hard at coordinating key reforms to cure strategic AML/CFT deficiencies over the last three years.
He said the Inter-Ministerial Committee had worked closely with the President and Cabinet to fundamentally transform AML/CFT governance of Ghana by approving the National AML/CFT Policy and Strategy, enacting critical legislation, and instituted vital measures.
Mr Ofori-Atta said FATF had expressed satisfaction with their work so far, taking Ghana off the blacklist by unanimous decision.
GNA
