According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the monthly change in the consumer price index stood at 9.23% in June 2022, compared to 7.85% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 210.08% to 1,286.76 in June, compared to 414.97 a year earlier. The average annual increase in Lebanon’s CPI stood at 215.03% in the first half 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 332.35% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 462.40% 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 594.46% rally in the prices of housing – water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.8% weight in the index), a 167.94% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), not to mention the frantic 271.85% 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 Mount Lebanon (11.48%) followed by Nabatieh (8.39%), the South (7.72%), North (7.64%), Bekaa (7.26%), and Beirut (5.61%) regions.