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Tunisia’s removal from EU financial blacklist should help boost economy

Three years after being designated as a high-risk country with strategic anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing deficiencies, Tunisia is officially off the list and getting ready for foreign investments.
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TUNIS, Tunisia — The European Commission informed the Tunisian Embassy in Brussels June 9 of Tunisia’s official withdrawal from the list of countries with nonefficient anti-money laundering and counterterrorist financing (AML-/CFT) measures, along with other countries including Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ethiopia, Guyana, the Lao People's Democratic Republic and Sri Lanka.

The move comes three years after Tunisia was included on the list, on Feb. 7, 2017, when the country was grappling with a serious economic crisis due to money laundering crimes and high rates of corruption in major state institutions and sectors including customs. This is not to mention tax evasion and e-crimes, as well as hacking of financial accounts and bank cards abroad.

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