FATF: looking into the crystal ball Pakistan has shown progress on the FATF action plan in the last 18 months and is now very close to the finish line The writer is a public policy expert and an honorary Fellow of Consortium for Development Policy Research. He tweets @hasaankhawar On February 22, as Pakistani officials joined the FATF’s virtual plenary session, they probably knew in their hearts that Pakistan was still away from an exit from the grey list, yet they took comfort in knowing that Pakistan has successfully dodged the threat of blacklisting, which could have been catastrophic for the country. Only a few months ago, the concluding statement of the FATF’s October plenary session had already indicated a change of heart in the global watchdog, as it confirmed that Pakistan had successfully completed 21 out of 27 actions. It was the first time since Pakistan’s blacklisting in 2018 that the official FATF statement did not carry an ultimatum. The run-up to the February 2021 meeting therefore had not been as tense as before. If anything, the country has gone ahead and not backwards. And they were proved right, as FATF acknowledged the completion of another three actions.