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The government of Mauritius says it has made progress in implementing the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) required to remove the country from FATF’s grey list.

The grey list is comprised of countries and jurisdictions that are identified as having strategic deficiencies in their anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing frameworks. Greylisting a country creates a negative perception of the economy. Foreign transactions with the country are closely monitored and thoroughly scrutinised. Some countries may choose to cut economic ties with a greylisted nation.

As of November 2020, there were 16 countries on the FATF grey list, including Mauritius, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Panama. Countries and jurisdictions under increased monitoring work with the FATF to address the deficiencies in their regimes to counter money laundering, terrorist financing, and proliferation financing.  

Mauritius was placed on the grey list early last year by the global money laundering and terrorist financing watchdog following an evaluation carried out by the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) in 2018 and updated in 2019.

According to a statement sent to Financial Nigeria on Tuesday by BLC Robert and Associates, a leading law firm in Mauritius, the Mauritius Ministry of Financial Services and Good Governance (MFSGG) issued a communique on January 27, 2021 to confirm that the country remained focused on exiting the FATF list at the earliest. The government also provided an update on the recommended measures (or the Action Plan) for its removal from the grey list.

This was subsequent to previous progress reports the country presented in the third and fourth quarters of last year. BLC Robert said during plenary sessions in September and October 2020, FATF commended the progress made by Mauritius in implementing the Action Plan, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. There are about 40 FATF recommendations that Mauritius is expected to be compliant with.

"Mauritius has taken steps towards improving its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime, including by developing a risk-based supervision plan for the global business and management companies," FATF said in October.

The next FATF plenary session with the Indian Ocean island nation will take place in February 2021. It is expected that Mauritius could be removed from the grey list after this month’s plenary session. According to the law firm’ statement, the Mauritian government has reiterated its unflinching commitment to exit the list and mend its international reputation.

Ghana is also implementing measures for the country to be delisted from the grey list early this year.