According to the Central Administration of Statistics (CAS), average consumer prices dropped by 1.14% y-o-y by November 2016 as reflected by the average Consumer Price Index (CPI) which decreased from 97.14 points by November 2015 to an average of 96.03 points in the same period of 2016.
In details, average prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages (20.6% of CPI) fell 1.35% y-o-y by November 2016. Moreover, with the decreasing oil prices, transportation (13.1% of CPI) and water, electricity, gas & other fuels (11.9% of CPI) registered average yearly decreases of 4.18% and 9.60%, respectively. Also, health (7.8% of CPI) and communication (4.6% of CPI) recorded respective average falls of 2.14% and 0.24% y-o-y.
However, the education sub-index, which grasps 5.9% of the CPI, rose by 1.86% y-o-y on average by November 2016. Moreover, as tourism activity started to recover during the first eleven months of 2016, average restaurants & hotels prices (2.6% of CPI) increased by 2.61% y-o-y by November 2016. 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 4.06% y-o-y.
Regionally, North’s overall prices witnessed a rise of 0.79%, followed by Bekaa, which gained 0.77%. Also, Beirut, South of Lebanon and Mount Lebanon observed inclines in their monthly CPI’s with respective increases of 0.52%, 0.37%, and 0.19%. However, Natabieh’s overall prices marginally fell 0.10%
Monthly Changes in Inflation Levels in Lebanon (Y-o-Y)
SOURCE: CAS