Botswana moves to end greylisting fear

Botswana’s 2018 stain

Greylisting means that a country is under increased monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) due to certain deficiencies in its anti-money laundering (AML), combating the financing of terrorism (CFT), and proliferation financing (CPF)??? framework. The FATF, the world’s leading multinational anti-money laundering agency, placed Botswana on its greylist in 2018 citing deficiencies in its money laundering structures, leading the European Union to place the country on a blacklist in 2019. An announcement was made in late 2021 that FATF had removed Botswana from the blacklist. The negative listing increased the cost of local financial institutions doing business with international banks and other organisations due to the higher due diligence that is applied to them. The listing by the global bodies has also dulled the country’s much-hailed investment climate. The decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to greylist Botswana raised fears over the country’s ability to fight money laundering, terrorism, and illicit financial flows.