Nepal has been listed on the number two spot in South Asia posing the highest risk for money laundering, according to the Basel Anti-Money Laundering (AML) Index, an annual ranking of countries assessing their money laundering risk.

Out of 149 countries, Nepal ranks on 12th spots with a score of 7.57 points, trailing behind Afghanistan in South Asia. In 2014, Nepal was ranked 14th in the AML Index out of 162 countries surveyed.

To assess a nation’s money laundering risk, the AML index assigns each country a score on a zero-to-10 scale based on a framework that aggregates and weights data from sources such as the World Bank, the Financial Action Task Force and the World Economic Forum. High scores indicate a country is more vulnerable to money laundering.

The 2016 edition of the index, published last week by the Basel Institute on Governance, shows that Sri Lanka with a score of 7.16, Pakistan with 6.62, Bangladesh with 6.40 and India with 5.69 are behind Nepal in the South Asian countries.

2016 Basel AML Index

SOUTH ASIA

Country                       Rank                 Risk Score

Afghanistan                2nd                    8.51

Nepal                           12th                  7.57

Sri Lanka                     23rd                  7.16

Pakistan                       45th                  6.62

Bangladesh                 54th                  6.40

India                            78th                  5.69