Myanmar was added on October 21 to a global financial blacklist while Russia was sidelined by the international money-laundering watchdog FATF. The move by the Financial Action Task Force puts Myanmar alongside North Korea and Iran as outcasts of the global financial system.
Citing a “continued lack of progress” and the fact the majority of the actions Myanmar had promised to take had not been completed more than a year after a deadline, the FATF put the country on the so-called blacklist.
Other nations are required to apply enhanced measures to screen transactions with countries on the blacklist to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
Those measures can act as an impediment to trade and investment.
The Paris-based FATF also further cut back Russia’s role in the organization due to its invasion of Ukraine.