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 11.42% in July 2020, compared to 20.21% 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 112.39% to 230.45 in July 2020, compared to 108.50 a year earlier as all index constituents saw a significant rise in their respective prices. In details, the index portrays a 408.91% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), a 336.22% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 93.41% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index), and a 516.60% rally in the prices of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.8% weight in the index), not to mention the sharp 489.34% 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 barring Beirut (9.82%) witnessed a monthly double digit increase in their CPI values, led by the Nabatieh (13.69%), followed by the North (12.33%), Bekaa (11.72%), Mount Lebanon (11.26%) and South (10.50%).