The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) congratulated Ghanafor the significant progress it has made in addressing the strategic deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering / Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime which had been previously identified by the FATF.
Following an on-site visit from the International Cooperation Review Group (ICRG), the FATF announced at its Plenary meeting on 25 June that Ghana had satisfactorily completed its Action Plan and would no longer be subject to the FATF’s increased monitoring process and therefore had been removed from its ‘grey list’.
It said Ghana would work with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing in West Africa (GIABA), of which it is a member, to continue to strengthen its AML/CFT regime.
“This is great relief for the country, considering the economic consequences suffered by the country while on the list. This will boost confidence in the integrity of our financial environment and also boost foreign direct investment,” said Ken Ofori-Atta, Ghana’s Minister for Finance.
Ghana was subject to a Second Round of Mutual Evaluation by GIABA in 2016. While this showed some progress over the previous evaluation in 2009, there were still significant gaps that needed to be addressed which led Ghana being placed under observation by the ICRG.
The European Union added Ghana to its list of high-risk third countries with strategic deficiencies in their Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime in October 2020 as a direct result of Ghana being on the FATF list. It should now be removed when the next EU list is published.
