Consumer Price Index Rose to 100.97 in October

Inflation rate reached 1.47% year-on-year (y-o-y) where the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased to 100.97 in October 2014, compared to 99.50 in October 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 2.38%, y-o-y to 101.42. Similarly, the “Actual rent” sub-index (16.6% of the CPI) saw a yearly rise of 3.84% to 103.84 while the “Water, electricity, gas, and other fuels” sub-index (11.9% of the CPI) dropped 0.85% to 97.99, due to declining crude oil prices.

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 20.56% and 10.83% to 120.23 and 105.95.

On the other hand, “Communication” and “Transportation” were the indices to display the largest decreases. The former dropped by 23.83% to 76.17 mainly due to the reduction in telecommunication tariffs that occurred at the beginning of June. The latter lost 1.72% y-o-y to 98.76, partly triggered by the ongoing fall in fuel prices.

On a month-on-month basis, October’s CPI went up by 0.18%. Correspondingly, the CPI of Bekaa and Nabatieh displayed decreases of 0.30% and 0.63%, respectively. CPI in the North remained stable, while all the remaining districts registered an uptick offsetting the decreases in Bekaa and Nabatieh, with the highest in the south at 0.43% followed by 0.38% in Beirut.

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