Jakarta, IO – Indonesia has become the 40th member of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). This was announced at the closing of the FATF meeting in Paris, France on Friday (27/10).
FATF is an international organization that focuses on global efforts to eradicate money laundering, terrorism financing and funding of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, per Kemenkeu.go.id, Thursday (2/11).
This membership status was obtained after a series of assessments, including on-site visit mutual evaluation review (MER) by the FATF team in July-August 2020, as well as the review carried out at the FATF Plenary Meeting in June.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani is optimistic that Indonesia’s membership in FATF will have a good impact on the country’s economy.
“That increases positive perceptions of the Indonesian financial system which will have an impact on rapid economic growth through investment, both domestic and foreign,” she said.
It is hoped that as a full member Indonesian can make a broad contribution to global strategic policymaking. Sri Mulyani said this contribution also emphasized Indonesia’s position as a country with integrity and capable of making contribution in the international arena.
Read: BRIN: Straw And Rice Husk Waste Can Be Converted Into Bioethanol
According to her, there are several measures that the Finance Ministry (Kemenkeu) would do to strengthen this role, including in the aspect of human resources (HR) who are able to supervise the accounting profession, especially with regard to money laundering and terrorism financing.
Kemenkeu will also implement mutual legal assistance (MLA) in criminal matters between Indonesia and other countries in order to curb tax avoidance and play an active role in the MER team. (un)