Average Consumer Prices Dropped 2.05% y-o-y by August 2016

 According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), average consumer prices, depicted by the average Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined by 2.05% y-o-y by August 2016, where the average CPI fell from 97.37 points during the first eight months of 2015 to an average of 95.38 points in the same period of 2016.

In details, average prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (20.6% of CPI) fell 1.45% y-o-y by August 2016. Moreover, as oil prices are still on the downfall, transportation (13.1% of CPI) and water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.9% of CPI) also recorded average yearly decreases of 5.90% and 12.48%, respectively. Similarly, health (7.8% of CPI) and communication (4.6% of CPI) registered a 2.57% and 0.30% y-o-y average declines, respectively.

On the other side, the education sub-index, constituting 5.9% of the CPI, rose by 1.49% y-o-yon average by August 2016. Moreover, due to the summer season and the occurrence of significant holidays, average restaurants & hotels prices (2.6% of CPI) increased by 2.69% y-o-y by August 2016. Also, the actual rent sub-index for households (old and new rent), with a weight of 3.4% of the CPI, grew by an average of 2.70%.

Regionally, all of Lebanon’s regions witnessed month-on-month drops in CPI. As such, the Bekaa region dropped the most in prices with a fall of 1.50%, followed by Beirut, which lost 1.42%. Also, Nabatieh, North of Lebanon and Mount Lebanon observed declines in their monthly cpi’s with respective falls of 0.85%, 0.75%, and 0.62%.

Monthly Changes in Deflation Levels in Lebanon (Y-o-Y)

Average Consumer Prices Dropped 2.05% y-o-y by August 2016

SOURCE: CAS

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