A supermarket in Beirut. (Credit: Photo Philippe Hage Boutros )
BEIRUT — The month-by-month consumer price index increased by 6.8 percent in July, according to the latest update posted by the government's Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) on Monday — marking the 17th consecutive month of lira price rises since a slight downturn in early 2022.
Meanwhile, the market exchange rate rose from LL92,500 per USD to LL90,000 between July 1 and July 31, according to data from the lirarate.org tracking website. There were also two peaks above LL94,000 during this period.
The consumer price index rose by 251.5 percent compared to July 2022, slightly less than the 253.55 percent annual increase recorded at the end of June.
There are no signs of slowing inflation. The Lebanese lira has lost about 98 percent of its value since the economic crisis began in late 2019. Most prices in the country are now calculated in dollars and converted into lira at the market rate — or even at rates calculated by individual businesses.
Rising healthcare costs?
One of the drivers of inflation in July was healthcare spending.
Spokespeople from the drug importers' syndicate, the doctors' syndicate and the public hospitals' syndicate told L'Orientn Today they did not know the reason for this data point. Representatives from the CAS and the Association of Insurance Companies in Lebanon did not immediately respond to requests for further details.
The second biggest increase was in housing expenditure (+7.8 percent on a monthly basis), followed by miscellaneous goods and services.
The only monthly decline was in telecom prices, which are set in dollars and then converted to lira at Banque du Liban's Sayrafa exchange rate. This rate fell slightly from June to July and fluctuates a few thousand pounds below the market rate.
Finally, comparing different regions of Lebanon, month-by-month prices rose the most in Mount Lebanon (+7.5 percent), followed by the Bekaa Valley (+7.1 percent), North Lebanon (+6.8 percent), Beirut and South Lebanon (+6.4 percent each), far ahead of Nabatieh (+1.5 percent).