South Africa ( Commonwealth Union ) _ The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed Nigeria and South Africa, the continent’s two biggest economies, on its money laundering “grey list,” alleging that both have a long way to go before they are up to par with international norms.
The nations on the FATF’s “grey list” are those that are being closely watched by the Paris-based body. A country’s international financial standing may suffer as a result of being added to the list, and over time, it may have a harder time getting assistance from development organizations.
The Reserve Bank of South Africa (SARB) responded by stating that it has intensified its anti-money laundering campaign. In order to “address the suggested actions listed in the FATF Mutual Evaluation Report (MER) of South Africa, during the 12-month observation period,” the bank and the National Treasury allegedly put up a significant amount of effort.
The central bank promised to tighten oversight and improve “the dissuasiveness and proportionality of administrative sanctions issued” in response to increased financial scrutiny. According to Peter Attard, “We only see modest market and growth consequences in the immediate term, but this will rise over time if foreign banks believe South Africa will remain on the list.
According to Attard, managing director at the research firm Intellidex, the decision was “very sad” but “ultimately avoidable.” If there isn’t a significant increase in attempts to improve the situation right away, it would be wishful thinking to believe that South Africa will be removed from the list within a year.
The country of Nigeria was just added to the “grey list,” which comes as it struggles with a severe cash crisis and one of its most bitterly disputed elections.
The 200, 500, and 1,000 naira notes in use in Africa’s largest economy have just undergone redesigns, as CoinGeek reported. The Central Bank of Nigeria has plunged the nation into a cash crunch that has all but stopped the country’s economy in its tracks in an effort to replace the old paper notes with new ones. However, the government of Nigeria didn’t reply right away to its inclusion on the grey list.
