site.btaPrime Minister Discusses Bulgaria’s Progress Toward Exiting Money Laundering List

Prime Minister Rumen Radev met with representatives of the Joint Group of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Council of Europe’s Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), the government information service reported.

During the meeting, the sides discussed the measures taken by Bulgaria and the progress achieved toward the country’s removal from the list of jurisdictions with strategic deficiencies in their systems for combating money laundering and terrorist financing. A final decision is expected to be made in October in Paris.

In October 2023, Bulgaria was placed on the FATF grey list of countries under “increased monitoring.”

In June this year, FATF gave the green light for Bulgaria to exit the grey list, the Ministry of Justice announced at the time. According to a decision by the Group, Bulgaria had substantially completed its Action Plan for removal from the list, which has significantly hindered foreign investment in the country. One final on-site assessment remained to confirm that the reforms implemented were irreversible, the ministry said in its social media post at the time.