Afghanistan’s acting minister of justice Mohammad Yousuf Halim introduced the new law against money laundering and terrorist financing to Afghan parliament on Saturday.

Mr. Halim called for an immediate ratification of the law by the house of representatives of Afghanistan.

The introduction of anti-money laundering and prevention of terrorism financing law to Afghanistan comes as Chinese banks have recently halted dollar deals with the Afghan commercial banks.

Banks from various countries have already halted trade with the commercial banks in Afghanistan since the Afghan government has failed to pass laws meeting global standards against money laundering and terrorist financing.

In the meantime, Mr. Halim said the new law is in accordance with the standards of Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and Asia Pacific (APG) Group and the law has been reviewed as per the request of the central bank of Afghanistan.

Halim warned that the relations of Afghan banks with the international banks will be at risk if the law is not immediately approved.

This comes as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international body that sets standards on how countries combat money laundering, threatened Afghanistan with the punishment early this year and the failure by Afghan government to pass key measures means that it could be blacklisted by the body in the month of June.

According to Halim, certain changes including prohibition of virtual banks activities and enforcement of limitations on banks relations have been included in the new law.

In the meantime, the Afghan parliament house speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi said the Afghan lawmakers will do their best to pass the law as soon as practicable.