Inflation rate reached 2.34% year-on-year (y-o-y) where the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 100.78 in September 2014, compared to 98.47 in September 2013 (this level is adjusted on the new base of 100 in December 2013).
“Food and non-alcoholic beverages” index, with a weight of 20.6% of the CPI, increased by 2.79%, y-o-y to 100.70. Similarly, the “Actual rent” sub-index (16.6% of the CPI) and the “Water, electricity, gas, and other fuels” sub-index (11.9% of the CPI) saw a yearly rise of 0.33% and 0.47% to 100.33 and 99.61, respectively.
The “Clothing and footwear” index and “Alcoholic beverages, tobacco” index, accounting for 5.4% and 1.6% of the index, saw the biggest increases, with respective leaps of 22.33% and 11.14% to 114.27 and 105.92.
“Communication” and “Transportation” were again the only indices to display decreases. The former dropped by 23.72% to 76.28 mainly due to the reduction in telecommunication tariffs that occurred at the beginning of June. The latter lost 2.78% y-o-y to 99.69, partly triggered by the ongoing fall in fuel prices.
On a month-to-month basis, September’s CPI went down by 0.23% from August 2014’s CPI of 101.01. Correspondingly, the CPI of each of Lebanon’s districts also displayed a decrease, with the biggest being 0.62% in the South, and 0.37% and 0.35% in Bekaa and Nabatieh, respectively. It is worth noting that Beirut has also displayed a 0.1% downtick for the month of September, after being the only district to portray inflation in August.
CPI in September
