Pakistan’s parliament has elected Shehbaz Sharif, PML-N leader, as the country’s new premier until August 2023 after Imran Khan was removed on Saturday in a vote of no confidence. MPs from Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf resigned en masse ahead of the vote on Monday.
In fact, so much has been going on in Pakistan over the past few weeks that economic issues like FATF grey-listing have flown under the radar. During its nearly 4-year tenure, Khan’s government has tried hard to get Pakistan out of the FATF grey list. While the opposition was busy in a “conspiracy” to oust Imran Khan, an anti-terrorism court sentenced 33 years of imprisonment to Jamaatud Dawa Chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on April 9.
Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar has also imposed a collective fine of Rs 340,000 on Hafiz Saeed. All the sentences will run concurrently. The Judge observed that the prosecution had established the terror financing charges against the JuD Chief and his role in collecting funds for terrorist activities.
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Similarly, several leaders of the JuD are already under detention since July 2019 by the CTD on charges of terror financing. The CTD has registered 41 FIRs against the JuD leaders, while 27 cases have been decided by the trial court so far.
According to some experts, this bold step taken under Khan’s government could help Pakistan escape the FATF gray list, whose last action item to be completed involves convictions and prosecutions.
With everything happening in Pakistan, this flew under the radar, but it's a big deal. Saeed's 31-year sentence on terrorist financing could help Pakistan escape the FATF gray list. Its last action item to be completed involves convictions/prosecutions.https://t.co/7u2RQ6K6rC.
— Michael Kugelman (@MichaelKugelman) April 11, 2022
Following the decision, the US dollar fell from 188.18 to Rs183, which the opposition is blatantly taking credit for. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Stock Exchange soared by 1700.38 points on Monday as the political drama concluded, as reported by the Dawn newspaper. But netizens say Pakistan could remain on the grey list, saying that Pakistan’s new prime minister is himself a money-launderer.
However, according to Dawn newspaper, Moody’s Investors Service highlighted Pakistan’s “significant uncertainty over policy continuity” and falling foreign exchange reserves. On Monday, Moody’s said that “the political upheaval reflects the volatility that besets Pakistan’s political environment and raises significant uncertainty over policy continuity, at a time when Pakistan is encumbered with surging inflation, widening current account deficits and declining foreign-exchange reserves.”
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But, the New York-based credit rating agency estimated the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate to remain between 3 and 4 per cent.