BEIRUT: Lebanon’s caretaker finance minister said it would contact a consulting firm on Wednesday to resume a forensic audit of the central bank, a key condition for foreign aid that has hit a roadblock.
Parliament agreed this week to lift banking secrecy for one year, after the restructuring consultancy Alvarez & Marsal pulled out of the audit, saying it had not been given information it needed.
“It was decided based on the law from parliament and government decisions to contact the firm A&M to resume the forensic audit,” caretaker Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni’s office cited him as saying after meeting with the president.
A presidency statement later quoted Wazni as saying the firm had recently sent a letter to the central bank that showed its willingness to resume work with the Lebanese government.
Such an audit is on list of reforms donors have demanded before helping Lebanon out of its financial crisis, rooted in decades of state waste and graft.
Central Bank Governor Riad Salameh said last month that he favored an audit but that disclosing the accounts of local banks would require a change in legislation.
Some Lebanese officials have accused him of using bank secrecy laws to justify withholding information.
Lebanon to ask consultants to resume central bank audit
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Lebanon to ask consultants to resume central bank audit
- Parliament agreed this week to lift banking secrecy for one year
Saudi tourism employment surpasses 1m as hospitality sector expands
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s tourism workforce surpassed 1 million in the third quarter of 2025, underscoring the sector’s rapid expansion as the Kingdom continues to develop its hospitality infrastructure and visitor economy.
According to the latest Tourism Establishments Statistics report released by the General Authority for Statistics, the total number of employees in tourism activities reached approximately 1,009,691 in the third quarter of 2025, marking a 6.4 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024, when employment stood at 948,629.
The growth in employment comes alongside a significant rise in the number of licensed tourism hospitality facilities, which increased by 40.6 percent year on year to reach 5,622 in the third quarter. Of these, serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities accounted for 52.6 percent, while hotels represented 47.4 percent.
The robust growth reflected in the latest tourism statistics aligns directly with the goals of Vision 2030, as the Kingdom aims to double tourism’s gross domestic product contribution to 10 percent. The sector is also seeking to create 1.6 million jobs, and attract 150 million visitors annually by 2030.
The report showed that non-Saudi employees made up the majority of the tourism workforce, numbering 764,520 and accounting for 75.7 percent of the total. Saudi nationals employed in the sector reached 245,171, representing 24.3 percent of all tourism workers.
In terms of gender distribution, male employees dominated the sector with 875,658 workers, while female employees totaled 134,033, making up just 13.3 percent of the workforce.
Hotel performance showed positive momentum, with the average room occupancy rate rising to 49.1 percent during the quarter, an increase of 2.9 percentage points from 46.1 percent in the same period a year earlier.
In contrast, serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities experienced a slight dip in occupancy, recording 57.4 percent compared to 58 percent in the same quarter of 2024.
The average daily room rate in hotels decreased by 3.6 percent to SR341 ($90.9), down from SR354 in the third quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, serviced apartments and similar facilities saw their average daily rate rise by 4.1 percent to SR208, up from SR200 a year earlier.
The average length of stay in hotels was 4.1 nights, down 1 percent from 4.2 nights in the third quarter of 2024. For serviced apartments and other hospitality facilities, the average stay was 2.1 nights, reflecting a marginal decrease of 0.2 percent year-on-year.
The statistics draw on administrative records, surveys and secondary data to capture activity across the Kingdom’s tourism sector, GASTAT said.
