ISLAMABAD - Finance Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday made three announcements – prices of petroleum products would not be increased for the next month, Pakistan had qualified for IBRD loan and Financial Action Task Force (FATF) had removed Pakistan from the grey list.
“Following the advice of the prime minister, the government is not changing the prices of petroleum products for the next month. The prices will remain at the level at which these were in February,” Finance Minister Ishaq Dar said, while addressing a press conference.
He revealed the Ogra had recommended an increase of Rs 5.59, Rs 12.62, Rs 7.32 and Rs 5.50 per liter in the prices of motor spirit (petrol), hi-octane, kerosene oil and diesel, respectively. It had recommended Rs 5.49 per liter reduction in the price of high speed diesel, he added.
Ishaq Dar said the government would change the GST rate which was 27 percent on five petroleum products in February 2015, adding General Sales Tax (GST) would be reduced from the existing 27 percent to 18 percent on four petroleum products – petrol, kerosene oil, hi-octane and light speed diesel – in order to retain their prices for the next month, however, the government would enhance GST on high speed diesel from 27 percent to 35 percent.  The minister said the government would complete necessary legal and constitutional requirements by tomorrow (Saturday) to ensure that prices remain the same during March.
The petrol price would remain at Rs 70.29, HOBC at Rs 80.31, kerosene oil at Rs 61.44, light-speed diesel at Rs 57.94 and high speed diesel at Rs 80.61 per liter for March 2015. “We should be ready for increase in future. We will have no option but to enhance the petroleum product prices if they increase in the international market,” the finance minister made it clear.
Sharing the second news, the finance minister Pakistan had qualified for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) loan and would get two billion dollars’ funding from the bank during 2015-2019 after the country enhanced its foreign exchange reserves to more than 2.5 months of projected imports. The finance minister said the country had foreign exchange reserves worth 16 billion dollars, enough to meet import requirements for 14 months. He said this was a major achievement if seen in the backdrop of foreign exchange reserves of only three/four weeks import needs of the country when the present government took over.
Regarding the third announcement, the finance minister said FATF, at its plenary meeting held in Paris, had removed Pakistan’s name from the grey list of terror financers that contained adverse remarks about Pakistan since February 2012.
“FATF’s Regional Review Group visited Pakistan in December 2014 for an onsite review of AML/CFT reforms and generally expressed satisfaction over Pakistan’s technical compliance to the requirements of the FATF Action Plan to which Pakistan had agreed. Pakistan’s delegation at the FATF Plenary meeting strongly presented the country’s case and convinced the FATF members about the significant progress made by the country in fully implementing the Action Plan. As a result, Pakistan’s exit from the grey list was approved. Finally, he wrote on February 21, 2015, a detailed letter to the FATF president explaining the initiatives and actions taken in the last two years by the PML-N government and urging him to recognise the hard work and delist Pakistan from the countries included in the grey list,” said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar a statement issued here.
The finance minister, while commenting on the decision, said Pakistan’s removal from the FATF grey list was a timely and welcome development, which was an outcome of the tireless efforts made by the economic managers under the leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The government had taken very seriously the menace of terrorist financing and adopted measures to strengthen the regime and build capacity of the law-enforcing agencies to pursue such cases.
Dar further stated that Pakistan’s exit from the FATF grey list would further encourage the inflow of foreign investment and provide grounds for better assessment of the country’s credit rating in the international market. He also added that Pakistan wanted to continue to work with FATF and individual members for fighting money laundering and terrorist financing in order to bring peace and provide security for life and property to the people of Pakistan and international community.
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance said the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), at its plenary meeting held in Paris France, had removed Pakistan from its public statement (grey listing) which contained adverse remarks on the country since February 2012. “The FATF, in its decision about Pakistan, said it welcomed Pakistan’s significant progress in improving its anti-money laundering/combating financing for terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and noted that Pakistan had established the legal and regulatory framework to meet the commitments in its action plan regarding the strategic deficiencies that the FATF had identified in June 2010,” the finance ministry said.
The ministry added: “The FATF decision further stated that Pakistan is no longer subject to FATF’s monitoring process under its ongoing global AML/CFT compliance process. Pakistan would work with the Asia Pacific Group as it continues to address the full range of AML/CFT issues identified in its mutual evaluation report, in particular, in fully implementing UNSC Resolution, 1267,” the FATF stated. It may be added that FATF, the international body which sets standards for AML/CTF, placed Pakistan on its grey list in February 2012, which meant that the country was not fully complying with the standards set by it for effectively combating the twin menaces of money laundering and terrorist financing. Such a designation was not only a scar on the country but a major risk to its dealings in the international financial sector.