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 8.16% in September 2021, compared to 10.25% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 144.12% to 613.96 in September 2021, compared to 251.50 a year earlier. The average increase in Lebanon’s CPI stood at 134.25% in the first nine months of 2021 when compared to the same period in 2020. All index constituents saw a sharp rise in their respective prices. In details, the index portrays a 165.96% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), a 280.86% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 356.91% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index), and a shambolic 140.46% rally in the prices of furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (3.8% weight in the index), not to mention the frantic 293.36% rise in the prices of restaurants & hotels (2.8% 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 Nabatieh (11.51%) followed by the Bekaa (9.60%), South (9.07%), Beirut (8.51%), North (7.64%) and Mount Lebanon (7.41%) regions.