A global money-laundering watchdog is set to include Pakistan in its “grey list” of nations not doing enough to counter terror financing and money laundering after the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and China withdraw their opposition to the move.

A formal announcement is expected later on Friday, the Hindustan Times reported. 

According to the report, many sources in New Delhi and Islamabad said a plenary meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris passed a US-backed resolution to list Pakistan after the GCC and China withdrew their objections. 

The resolution was initially opposed by Saudi Arabia, which was acting on behalf of GCC, China and Turkey. 

In the final vote, only Turkey backed Pakistan, sources said. Besides the US, the resolution was backed by the UK, Germany and France.

The Western powers lobbied the other nations and were successful in last-minute turnaround.

The FATF had reviewed action taken so far by Pakistan to crack down on the financing of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah (JuD) and Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation (FIF), two groups linked to Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed that have been sanctioned by the UN Security Council, the report said. 

The move will lead to greater scrutiny by banks and international financial organizations of transactions involving Pakistan and will make doing business more difficult. 

Pakistan had also been included in the grey list from 2013 to 2015.