According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the monthly change in the consumer price index stood at 7.85% in May 2022, compared to 7.10% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 211.43% to 1,177.99 in May, compared to 378.25 a year earlier. The average annual increase in Lebanon’s CPI stood at 216.02% in the first five months of 2022 when compared to the same period in 2021. All index constituents saw a sharp rise in their respective prices. In details, the index portrays a 363.78% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 515.36% surge in transportation prices (13.1% weight in the index) amid the rise in fuel & gasoline prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a shambolic 445.18% rally in the prices of housing – water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.8% weight in the index), a 184.32% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), not to mention the frantic 278.54% 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 rise in their CPI values, with the largest increase taking place in Nabatieh (11.79%) followed by the South (9.35%), North (8.52%), Bekaa (8.44%), Beirut (7.35%), and Mount Lebanon (6.84%) regions.