Business leaders urge government to get SA out of greylist
Greylisted countries are subject to increased scrutiny, making it harder to conclude cross-border transactions.
South African flag. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA-2.5
JOHANNESBURG - Business leaders have again put government institutions under pressure to ensure South Africa's quick delisting from the greylist as the 2025 target draws closer.
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) placed South Africa on the list in February last year, for not complying with international standards around the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.
This made South Africa the third G20 country to be greylisted after Argentina and Turkey.
Greylisted countries are subject to increased scrutiny, making it harder to conclude cross-border transactions.
Prolonged greylisting also runs the risk of spooking domestic and international investors at a time when increased investment is key to the country’s economic recovery.
READ: SA on course to exit grey list in 2025 - report
Following the launch of the second phase of the business-government partnership – corporate South Africa says urgent interventions are needed to address the outstanding items on the action plan.
"Can we get off the FATF greylist? We think we can. It’s a very critical issue," said vice president of Business Unity South Africa (BUSA), Adrian Gore.
"It will strengthen the financial sector, we’ll have reduced transaction costs because the cost of borrowing will reduce, increase confidence levels which underpins all of the areas we’re focusing on, and improve credit ratings," added Business for South Africa's chairperson, Martin Kingston.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said government is also working around the clock to rebuild the hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority to strengthen investigations and the prosecution of financial crimes.