Botswana: Embarked on its Second National Risk Assessment (NRA) on Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Multiplication Financing

By Abdul Rahman Bangura–

NEW AFRICA DAILY NEWS (NADN) Freetown, Sierra Leone- Apparently, during the liftoff in Gaborone on November 07th, 2022; Permanent Secretary to the President and Chairperson of the National Coordinating Committee on Financial Intelligence – Emmah Peloetletse asserted that, she acknowledges the report will be finalized on time and within budget.

“This project needs the commitment and support of all the stakeholders, and although the assessment modules have increased from nine to fifteen this time around, with the improved tools we are determined more than ever, to get done within a year, as opposed to the two years we took to complete the first NRA,” she mumbled.

She similarly noted that, if the NRA is appropriately carried out, it will boost the Southern African region in meeting international criteria and averting being “grey-listed.”

Botswana obtained its first National Risk Assessment in 2017 and is presently working on the second, which is expected be finished by August 2023. In October 2018, Botswana was grey listed by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for drawbacks in it’s financial regulation.

Botswana was eliminated from the FATF’s grey list after modifications to money laundering regulations were made in October 2021.

The FAFT is an intergovernmental organization charged with improving standards to stave off and thwart money laundering and terrorist financing. According to FATF rules, member nations must recognize, assess, and discern the risks of money laundering and terrorism financing that they encounter.

For New Africa Daily News Abdul Rahman Bangura Reports,  Africa Correspondent