The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced on Friday that Pakistan shall continue to remain in its "increased monitoring list."

FATF President Dr Marcus Pleyer said that the forum has decided that Pakistan "needs to do more" when it comes to achieving the targets set as per the requirements stated by the task force.

It was acknowledged that Pakistan successfully met 21 out of the total 27 conditions.

Dr Pleyer further said in a response to a question that an 'on-site visit will be approved once the remaining six conditions are fulfilled... a team from the FATF will visit the country for the next review.'

"Our discussions are confidential [...] the members decided by consensus that Pakistan needs to complete these six items for an onsite visit to be granted.

He said that the new deadline for Pakistan to fulfil the remaining conditions is set for February 2021 when the next plenary meeting will take place.

"As long as Pakistan can be seen progressing and fulfilling the requirements, it will be given a chance. There are some countries which are not making progress and have been placed on the black list," said Dr Pleyer.

Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar said that Pakistan has "achieved impressive progress" on its FATF action plan.

He said that remaining 6 are "partially complete".

"I congratulate our federal and provincial teams who have worked day and night even during the pandemic to ensure this turn around," he wrote.

The plenary was earlier scheduled in June but got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.