Turkey expects removal from global money laundering ‘grey list’: VP

ANKARA — Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Thursday that Ankara expects the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to remove Turkey from its grey list next month.

The Paris-based global financial watchdog greylisted Turkey in 2021, intensifying scrutiny over money laundering and the financing of terrorism, urging the government to implement stricter measures to address these concerns.

“I think we will be taken off the FATF grey list in June,” Yilmaz told Reuters in an exclusive interview. “If we are not, I believe this will be due to political reasons, not technical reasons. … I think Turkey fully meets the technical criteria,” he added.

His remarks echoed a similar message from Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek, who previously said that his country expected to be removed from the list during the watchdog plenary session in June. The FATF is scheduled to hold plenary sessions between June 23 and 28 in Singapore and will release its country assessments on the final day of the meetings.

Yilmaz also said that an FATF team visited Turkey earlier this month ahead of the June meeting.

The watchdog noted in February that Ankara “made key reforms” to combat money laundering and terrorism financing, including increasing prosecutions against UN-designated terror groups. “Turkey has substantially completed its action plan,” said the FATF, referring to the pledges made by the Turkish government to the watchdog.

Turkey’s removal from the grey list — or the list of countries subject to increased FATF monitoring, as described by the watchdog — could enhance the government’s efforts to boost confidence among foreign investors. Such a move would also help to reduce the country’s risk premium — or CDS — which has been on the decline since the country’s shift to economic orthodoxy after the May 2023 general and presidential elections. 

“Decreasing by 435 basis points from May last year, the CDS fell to 268 basis points, its lowest level after February 2020,” Simsek wrote on the social media platform X on Thursday. 

Turkey’s economic management aims to increase the flow of foreign funds to alleviate the impacts of one of the worst financial crises in recent Turkish history. According to official data, the country’s year-on-year inflation reached almost 70% in April.