...an Iranian colony situated on the eastern Mediterranean, conveniently adjacent to Israel. Formerly inhabited by hardy Phoenecian traders, its official language is now Arabic, with the usual unpleasant side effects. The Leb civil war, between 1975 and 1990, lasted a little over 145 years and produced 120,000 fatalities. The average length of a ceasefire was measured in seconds. The Lebs maintain a precarious sectarian balance among Shiites, Sunnis, and about a dozeen flavors of Christians. It is the home of Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade. The Lebs have the curious habit of periodically murdering their heads of state or prime ministers...’s finance ministry said the central bank agreed on Tuesday to provide by the end of the month the documents required by Alvarez & Marsal for a stalled forensic audit.
The audit, which hit a roadblock last year, is a key condition for foreign aid that Lebanon badly needs as it grapples with a financial collapse rooted in decades of waste and graft. The currency has crashed and banks are paralyzed.
When restructuring consultancy A&M withdrew from the audit last November, it said it had not received the information it needed from Lebanon’s central bank.
Parliament agreed in December to lift banking secrecy for one year, amid much back-and-forth between Lebanese officials including the ministry and the central bank over whether certain information could be disclosed.
After a meeting with the central bank and A&M on Tuesday, the finance ministry said the bank confirmed its commitment to an audit and to deadlines to provide the necessary documents. It said attendees would stay in contact "in order to re-activate the forensic audit and evaluate the current development".