Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke had said that Jamaica, like other countries, had been impacted by a shift in Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standards of measurement.

“If a country has strategic AML/CTF deficiencies and its financial assets are deemed to be larger than the threshold of US$5 billion, the country’s financial sector is seen as large enough, in an international context, to warrant the direct, enhanced monitoring of the international body FATF – a process commonly known as greylisting.

“The minister of finance of Jamaica, in respect to the greylisting of our country because of our non-fulfilment of the Financial Action Task Force obligation, has said that this is because of our change in our economic status.

“Given what the minister has said, given the impact of COVID on the country and the calamity that faces our economic reality, we need to find out whether or not the prediction by the governor of the Bank of Jamaica – where it has moved from a three per cent decline in the economy to a four to seven per cent decline – whether that will change the status of Jamaica under the FATF situation,” the opposition senator said.

The finance minister, however, made it clear that Jamaica will never be removed from the list of non-financial businesses and professions that do not provide data on its dealings.