The government is preparing to implement a special action plan aimed at strengthening financial transparency and enhancing revenue collection, with the goal of ensuring Nepal's removal from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list, Finance Minister Bishnu Prasad Paudel told Parliament on Tuesday.
Speaking during a meeting of the House of Representatives, Minister Paudel said the government has launched a multi-pronged strategy that includes the enforcement of the Money Laundering Prevention Regulation, 2081 (2024), and the introduction of the Rapid Economic Implementation Action Plan, 2082 (2025). He said these measures are part of Nepal’s broader effort to comply with global standards for anti-money laundering (AML) and countering the financing of terrorism (CFT).
Read: FATF Adds Nepal to Grey List, Again
In response to a query raised by lawmaker Prem Suwal regarding Nepal's greylisting, Minister Paudel said, “We have amended 19 laws and issued several new directives to align with FATF requirements. Our focus is not only on exiting the grey list but also on ensuring Nepal does not fall back into such a situation again.” He added that specific directives have been issued to high-risk sectors, including dealers of precious metals and stones, casino operators, and real estate businesses, to improve transparency and financial accountability.
The Minister also informed the House that four inter-agency coordination mechanisms have been formed for regulation, investigation, counter-terrorism, and implementation facilitation—demonstrating the government’s serious intent to meet FATF benchmarks.
In addition to FATF compliance, Minister Paudel said the government has adopted a comprehensive strategy to mobilize internal revenue in the current fiscal year. “We have introduced an internal revenue mobilization plan and will soon implement a special action plan focused on recovering outstanding tax dues,” he said. The Ministry of Finance is regularly reviewing revenue trends and has set a higher revenue target for the current fiscal year.
Responding to lawmaker Surya Prasad Gautam, Paudel shared that revenue collection in the previous fiscal year reached Rs 1,196 billion, marking an 11.33 percent increase from the year before. To sustain this momentum, he said the government has adopted corrective tax measures through the current fiscal year’s budget. These include adjustments in tax rates, expansion of the tax base, promotion of compliance, and more effective use of the digital tax system.
“The government is fully committed to enhancing the efficiency and capacity of the revenue administration,” Paudel said, assuring lawmakers that the current fiscal policies are aligned with both national economic goals and international obligations.
Nepal was placed on the FATF grey list for the second time during the global watchdog’s plenary meeting held in Paris in February. The grey list, officially termed “Jurisdictions under Increased Monitoring,” includes countries working with FATF to address strategic deficiencies in their AML/CFT frameworks. Nepal, which was previously greylisted from 2008 to 2014, now has a two-year window to complete the required reforms and exit the list.
“This situation arose because we failed to complete the required tasks within the given timeframe,” Paudel admitted soon after Nepal was placed in the greylist. – With inputs from RSS
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