According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), monthly inflation in Lebanon, as captured by the change in the consumer price index (CPI), stood at 6.94% in May 2020, compared to 25.36% in the previous month. This hike in inflation can be attributed to the ongoing devaluation of the Lebanese Pound. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI rose by 56.53% to 172.06 in May 2020, compared to 109.92 a year earlier as nearly all index constituents saw a significant hike in their respective prices except for housing – water, electricity, gas & other fuels in the light of the tumbling global oil commodity prices. In details, the index portrays a 171.49% annual hike in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), a 189.84% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 30.19% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index), and a 143.83% rally in the prices of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.8% weight in the index), not to mention the sharp 203.11% annual rise in the prices of alcoholic beverages & tobacco (1.4% weight in the index). The following section captures the fluctuation in the key constituents of Lebanon’s consumer basket:

On a geographical basis, all regions witnessed a monthly increase in their CPI values, led by Mount Lebanon (7.25%), followed by the North (7.17%), Beirut (6.95%), South (6.63%), the Bekaa (6.08%) and Nabatieh (5.54%) regions.