According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the monthly change in the consumer price index stood at 7.42% in July 2022, compared to 9.23% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 168.45% to 1,382.22 in July, compared to 514.89 a year earlier. The average annual increase in Lebanon’s CPI stood at 208.37% in the first seven 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 240.21% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 353.85% 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 460.53% rally in the prices of housing – water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.8% weight in the index), a 137.94% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), not to mention the frantic 212.16% 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 Beirut (10.40%) followed by Bekaa (8.89%), the North (8.09%), Mount Lebanon (6.63%), Nabatieh (6.62%), and the South (6.32%) regions.