सिंहदरबार संवाददाता
Kathmandu. Nepal has been included in the grey list after 10 years. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has included Nepal in the ‘grey’ list.
The official announcement of the grey list is coming from Paris, France in a few hours. This is not the first time that Nepal has been included in the grey list. Earlier, Nepal was also included in the grey list in 2008. Nepal came out of that list after about 6 years.
Narraj Bhattarai, CEO of NRN Development Fund, said that Nepal’s inclusion in the ‘grey’ list will not have a major impact immediately. He said, “We have been on the ‘grey’ list from 2008 to 2010. Grey is just grey, not black. It does not have a major impact. We are a little concerned about whether it will affect our international trade. In our international trade, foreign parties will ask for cash margins for letters of credit (LC). We are concerned about whether it will affect us because our regulatory compliance is low. But it is not a matter of whether it will end or not.”
The Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) has published a report in 2024. In that report, it has clarified the situation in Nepal. CEO Bhattarai added, “They did not say in the report they published whether Nepal will end or not. Many of our things are good. The most important thing in the report is compliance. It does not mean that no one will give us subsidies or no investors will come. The Anti-Money Laundering Act has also been passed by our parliament. But it has not been approved by the President. Some things are in the process. This is a man-made problem. It is an issue that we can improve if we want. If we can keep our financial transactions within the legal framework, it will be enough. The European Union has also blacklisted Nepali airlines. This does not mean that Nepali aircraft will not fly. It means that we should maintain standards. The biggest thing is that human smugglers and bad money should not be allowed to enter the country. The main issue is that the money that comes to Nepal can go to terrorist activities.”
Economist Keshav Acharya says that being on the ‘grey’ list will have a serious impact on Nepal’s investment. He told Singha Dabar, “The biggest thing is that it affects foreign investment. The difficulty of remittances also increases. The cost of sending Nepal from abroad can increase. Even if the cost increases by 0.1 percent when 10 trillion remittances come in per year, it will go up by 1 billion. The third important thing is that the cost of opening an LC can increase. It does not mean that the cost will increase. But when the country is on the grey list, foreign banks become more cautious. Since it is a Nepali bank, they may ask for a higher fee. This increases the trouble.”
He added, “It comes down to the country’s pride. We have received a B minus grading in the country’s rating. Which was something that made us happy. It gives us a bit of a shock. Nepali students are not going to study abroad. Foreign schools may not even open accounts for admission. This does not send a good message. Now to get out of this, they have asked us to work on 40 points. We have touched on 21 of them. We have not even entered into many subjects. Their biggest charge is that there is no law, and the law is not implemented properly. There is a big question in money laundering. There is concern that the government did not take action even though there were cases of money laundering. It needs to be improved greatly.”
After being placed on the ‘Grey’ list, Nepal will get a 2-year period. During that period, the FATF will give Nepal a list of tasks to be done. Only if Nepal is able to do satisfactory work during this period will Nepal be removed from the Grey List, otherwise it will be blacklisted.
Rastra Bank Governor Mahaprasad Adhikari had indicated some time ago that Nepal would be placed on the Grey List. However, he has claimed that there is still a lot of room for improvement even after being placed on the Grey List. Nepal had issued the Money Laundering Prevention Act 2064 on Magh 14, 2064. Despite issuing the Act, Nepal was placed on the ‘Grey’ List because its implementation was very weak. Speaking on the ‘National Anti-Money Laundering Day 2081’ on Magh 14, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Poudel and Rastra Bank Governor Maha Prasad Adhikari had clearly indicated that Nepal would be placed on the ‘grey’ list. Speaking at the event, Finance Minister Poudel said that Nepal’s representatives had not been successful in the defense in the Philippines.
This is the APG report
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