According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), consumer prices in Lebanon grew by 6.31% in the first 10 months of 2018 since the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) reached 106.28 by October 2018. In reality, consumer prices went up across all sub-categories.
In details, The average costs of “Housing and utilities” (water, electricity, gas and other fuels) constituting a combined 28.4% of the CPI, rose by 7.08% year-on-year (y-o-y) by October 2018. “Owner-occupied” rental costs,, rose by 4.05% y-o-y. As for the average prices of “Water, electricity, gas, and other fuels” (11.8% of the total CPI), they increased by an annual 11.10% by October 2018. In fact, the rise can be linked to the jump in average oil prices from $53.03/barrel by October 2017 to $73.49/barrel over the same period this year
In turn, the average prices for “Food and non-alcoholic beverages”(constituting 20% of the CPI), “Transportation” ( grasping 13.1% of the CPI), and “Health” costs (7.7% of CPI) registered yearly upticks of 4.90%, 8.81%, and 5.52% by October 2018.
Average Yearly Inflation Rates by October
Source: CAS