Sudan’s top financial official said on Tuesday he believed it was “just a question of time” before his country was removed from the U.S. state-sponsored terrorism list.

Finance Minister Ibrahim Elbadawi told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council think tank that the listing posed a “crippling impediment” to the transitional government’s ability to access funds from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank.

But he said the government was working to address security concerns, while taking steps to boost internal revenues by closing tax loopholes and unwinding a big shadow economy.

Read more: CNBC