Consumer prices maintained the downward trend by the fourth month of 2016 as reflected by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that dropped by an average of 2.9% y-o-y by April 2016.
According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), the average CPI decreased from 97.62 points by April 2015 to 94.78 points by the end of April 2016. The depreciation of the euro, the local and global economic slowdown and the decline in oil prices were the primary reasons behind this deflation.
In terms of CPI’s components, average prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (20.6% of CPI) declined by 1.7% y-o-y by April 2016, while transportation (13.1% of CPI) and water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.9% of CPI) witnessed average yearly drops of 5.3% and 16.2%, respectively. The other sub-indices that waned were health (7.8% of CPI) and communication (4.6% of CPI), posting a 3.8% and 0.4% y-o-y average declines, respectively.
However, the education sub-index, constituting 5.9% of the CPI, augmented annually by 1.50% by April 2016. Furthermore, average restaurants & hotels prices (2.6% of CPI) went up by 2.8% y-o-y by April 2016. In addition, the actual rent sub-index for households (old and new rent), with a stake of 3.4% of the CPI, increased by an annual average of 1.8%.
On the other hand, the slight rise in oil prices and the appreciation of the euro during the month of April alone led to a 0.8% month-on-month (m-o-m) increase in consumer prices. In details, transportation (13.1% of CPI) and water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.9% of CPI), witnessed monthly growths of 3.7% and 2.8%, respectively.
Monthly Changes in Deflation Levels in Lebanon (Y-o-Y)
SOURCE: CAS