According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the monthly change in the consumer price index stood at 8.40% in September 2022, compared to 7.55% in the previous month. On an annual basis, Lebanon’s CPI soared by 162.47% to 1,611.43 in September, compared to 613.96 a year earlier. The average annual increase in Lebanon’s CPI stood at 198.11% in the first nine 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 208.07% increase in the prices of food & non-alcoholic beverages (20.0% weight in the index), a 262.45% 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 341.71% rally in the prices of housing – water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.8% weight in the index), a 162.90% annual appreciation in the prices of clothing & footwear (5.2% weight in the index), not to mention the frantic 214.28% 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 (10.20%) followed by the North (9.17%), South (9.02%), Bekaa (8.77%), Mount Lebanon (8.02%), and Beirut (7.21%) regions.