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 20.21% in June 2020, compared to 6.94% 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 soared by 89.74% to 206.83 in June 2020, compared to 109.00 a year earlier as all index constituents saw a significant hike in their respective prices. In details, the index portrays a 344.81% annual hike in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), a 246.62% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), an 84.69% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index), and a 412.40% rally in the prices of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.8% weight in the index), not to mention the sharp 254.05% 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 double digit increase in their CPI values, led by the Bekaa (23.37%), followed by the South (21.98%), Nabatieh (21.29%), North (20.39%), Mount Lebanon (20.19%) and Beirut (15.36%) regions.