SINGAPORE is set to be taken off the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's (OECD) 'grey list' of countries not meeting international standards on information exchange for tax purposes.

This much-anticipated development looks all but certain when Singapore signs an agreement with France on Friday, according to a media invitation from the French Embassy.

This will take Singapore to the required minimum of 12 such signed agreements in order to be promoted to the clean-bill-of-health 'white' list.

The agreement features the new internationally agreed standard that requires governments to disclose financial information upon specific foreign requests to chase tax evaders, Reuters said yesterday.

The Ministry of Finance declined to comment when asked about the Reuters report.

Singapore's imminent move off the grey list was signalled by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam last month when he presented the Income Tax (Amendment) (Exchange of Information) Bill, which was subsequently passed in Parliament.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.