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 3.61% in August 2020, compared to 11.42% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 120.03% to 230.53 in August 2020, compared to 108.51 a year earlier as all index constituents saw a significant rise in their respective prices. In details, the index portrays a 413.44% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), a 367.19% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 104.95% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index), and a 663.93% rally in the prices of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.8% weight in the index), not to mention the sharp 437.13% rally 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 saw a monthly hike in their CPI values, led by the North (6.29%), followed by Mount Lebanon (3.46%), Nabatieh (3.26%), Beirut (2.37%), Bekaa (2.28%), and South (2.11%).