Uganda's delisting from the dreaded Financial Action Task Force grey list is likely to boost investor confidence and attract more inflows into the country, experts say.

While presenting the outcomes of the fifth plenary meeting in Paris on the February 21 to 23, T. Raja Kumar, the president of the FATF, showed that Uganda was no longer on the grey list. He said the country had performed well in combating money laundering, and had enhanced financial transparency and dealt with terrorism financing.

Samuel Were Wandera, the executive director of Financial Intelligence Authority Uganda, while commenting about Uganda's removal from the FATF grey list, said in a statement, that "Uganda's exit from the FATF grey list is a testament to our unwavering commitment to fostering a transparent and secure financial environment. It reflects the concerted efforts of our government and regulatory authorities to strengthen our AML/CFT framework and safeguard our financial system from illicit financial activities."

Dr Patrick Mutimba, the director of the Financial Sector Management Programme at Macroeconomics and Financial Management Institute of Eastern and Southern Africa (MEFMI), said "In general, being on the FATF grey list implies that a country finds it harder to attract foreign direct investment. Institutional investors will carry on more elaborate "due diligence" and any incremental costs will be passed on to the final consumer in terms of higher prices for a relatively same quality product. So, when a country is off the grey list, there is reason to be more optimistic about the country's business prospects going forward."

He added, however, that "a country's business competitiveness is also affected by a host of other factors such as access to good technology, financing options from developed domestic markets, taxation regimes, etc. These also come into play, contributing to the eventual outcomes."