Djibouti — Country Risk Report

Djibouti (Africa • East Africa). Risk report as of the 19 Jun 2026 FATF plenary.

High country risk, with elevated corruption risk. Djibouti's country risk score is 5.8/10, placing it in the high-risk band. The principal driver is weak corruption, alongside voice and accountability risk. Djibouti is not currently FATF grey- or black-listed. Djibouti is not subject to comprehensive country-wide sanctions. Firms should apply additional scrutiny where exposure involves state-linked entities, restricted sectors, sensitive technology, dual-use goods or politically exposed counterparties.

Recommended treatment

Enhanced due diligence for defined risk triggers.

At a glance

• FATF status: Not currently listed (one indicator only; it does not set the overall country risk rating by itself)
• Comprehensive country sanctions: none identified. Targeted sanctions exposure: possible, screen applicable persons, entities and sectors
• Government effectiveness and rule of law: 5.9/10
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 31/100, rank #124 of 182
• Enforcement data: not yet assessed (no RegActions coverage)

Country Risk Score: 5.8/10 (High)

Higher score means higher country risk (global average 4.6). Full information available. Strong data coverage. Enforcement activity and CPI are shown for context but do not change the score.

All three parts of the score are available.

How this score was calculated

• Financial crime controls: 8.1/10 — 50% of this score
• Government effectiveness and rule of law: 5.9/10 — 30% of this score
• International sanctions: 0.0/10 — 20% of this score

International sanctions contributes 0.0 because the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level sanctions programme. People or organisations connected to the country may still appear on sanctions lists.

Principal risk drivers

• Corruption (WGI) — 7.0/10
• Voice & accountability — 6.5/10
• Rule of law & institutions — 5.9/10

Mitigating factors

• Not currently on the FATF grey or black list.
• No comprehensive country-wide sanctions programme.
• Comparatively stronger political stability (4.4/10).
• Risk is concentrated in specific counterparties, sectors and transactions rather than applying uniformly.

Business impact

• Customer onboarding (High): Additional ownership and control verification may be required.
• Payments and transactions (High): Review transaction purpose, counterparties and geographic routing.
• Trade and export activity (High): Screen goods, end users and potential dual-use exposure.
• Corporate clients (High): Assess state ownership, government links and political exposure.
• Ongoing monitoring (High): Apply alerts for ownership changes, sanctions and geopolitical developments.

Recommended controls

• Verify ultimate beneficial ownership using more than one reliable source.
• Identify state ownership, government influence and politically exposed persons.
• Screen entities, directors and beneficial owners against applicable sanctions lists.
• Apply enhanced review to technology, defence, telecommunications, financial services and dual-use activity.
• Document transaction purpose and source of funds where cross-border structures are complex.
• Escalate unresolved ownership opacity or adverse information to Compliance.

Enhanced due diligence triggers

• State ownership / control
• PEP involvement
• Sensitive / restricted sectors
• Opaque ownership
• Adverse media
• Dual-use goods & technology
• High-risk intermediary routing

FATF status: Not currently listed

Djibouti is not on the FATF grey or black list as of the 19 Jun 2026 plenary.

Source details

International sanctions by issuing body

• UN: No
• EU: No
• UK: No
• US: No

No means the complete UN, UK, EU and US review found no direct country-level programme. People or organisations may still appear on sanctions lists.

Government effectiveness and rule of law (World Bank 2024, percentile)

• Government Effectiveness: 42/100
• Regulatory Quality: 41/100
• Rule of Law: 40/100

Regulators and legal framework

FATF network

FATF network via MENAFATF.

• Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force

Last mutual evaluation: 2024 · report

National regulators

Regulator profiles not yet available on RegActions.

FIU: Not an Egmont Group member

Framework signals

• FATF listing: Not currently listed
• International sanctions: no listed programme identified
• Corruption (CPI 2025): 31/100, rank #124 of 182
• Rule of law (WGI): 5.9/10 risk

Sector exposure

• Banking & payments (Low): No FATF listing, rule-of-law governance within normal range
• Trade & export controls (Low): No sanctions programme or FATF black-list constraint identified
• Crypto & virtual assets (Elevated): Weak accountability governance (WGI 6.5/10 risk)
• Real estate & luxury assets (Elevated): Elevated corruption exposure (CPI 31/100)
• State-linked & procurement (High): High state-capture risk (corruption WGI 7.0/10)

Derived from sanctions tier, FATF listing, World Bank WGI governance and CPI; no per-sector dataset is asserted.

Djibouti: analysis

Djibouti's profile rests on its governance indicators, as neither FATF listing nor sanctions apply. Corruption (severe risk, weight 35%) is the dominant driver. Rule of law and institutions (elevated risk, weight 40%) and voice and accountability (elevated risk, weight 10%) collectively sustain the elevated picture. Political stability is the strongest domain, reflecting Djibouti's relative internal security. The CPI reading confirms persistent integrity weaknesses. Djibouti sits below the median of assessed jurisdictions on the World Bank governance indicators.

Outlook

Djibouti is not subject to FATF monitoring at present, which limits one key escalation pathway. However, the consistently elevated corruption and accountability readings indicate that underlying governance conditions remain a structural risk. Firms should monitor whether the country's strategic location and financial sector growth attract enhanced scrutiny from international standard-setters.

Key watchpoints

• Any future FATF mutual evaluation findings or grey-list designation.
• Corruption and integrity risks within port-related trade finance and logistics sectors.
• Developments in political accountability and press freedom as lead indicators of governance trajectory.
• Regional AML/CFT cooperation and supervision capacity in the ESAAMLG context.

Assessment currency

• FATF status: Not listed (as of 19 Jun 2026)
• Sanctions exposure: None identified (as of Jul 2026)
• Governance (WGI): Latest dataset incorporated (as of 2024)
• Corruption (CPI): 31/100 (as of 2025)
• RegActions assessment: Reviewed (as of 19 Jun 2026)

Public evidence layer

FATF action: none. No FATF call-for-action or increased-monitoring status was identified at the latest plenary. This does not establish low risk.

Contextual signals (not scored)

• FATF network membership: FATF regional network: MENAFATF (present, as of 2026-07)
• EU non-cooperative tax jurisdictions: Not listed in Annex I (absent, as of 2026-02-17)
• Egmont Group FIU: No Egmont member FIU identified (absent, as of 2026-07-17)
• Beneficial-ownership register: No live register identified in the source (unavailable, as of 2026-07-17)
• Transparency International CPI: 31/100, rank 124 (present, as of 2025)

Evidence freshness

• FATF monitored-jurisdiction status: current; data 2026-06-19
• FATF mutual evaluation and follow-up ratings: current; data 2026-07-31; follow-up 2024-11; base assessment 2024-11
• World Bank governance indicators: current; data 2024
• UN, UK, EU and US sanctions regimes: current; data 2026-08-13

Contextual signals are public evidence only and do not change the immutable v2 score.

Download evidence PDF · CSV · JSON

Regional peer scores

• Central African Republic: 7.8/10 (Very high)
• Democratic Republic of the Congo: 7.6/10 (Very high)
• Somalia: 7.3/10 (Very high)
• South Sudan: 7.3/10 (Very high)
• Sudan: 7.1/10 (Very high)
• Eritrea: 6.9/10 (High)

Source: FATF black & grey lists · World Bank WGI (CC BY 4.0 — World Bank WGI) · TI CPI (CC BY-ND 4.0 — Transparency International, display only)