Lebanon’s Annual Inflation Rises to 17.53% in September as the Fuel Price Index Climbs 72%

By The Edge Research Team

The Takeaway: Lebanon’s consumer prices rose 17.53% in the year to September, up from 16.66% in August, according to figures the Central Administration of Statistics released on 21 October. Prices climbed 1.35% from August, and the fuel price index stood 72.35% higher than a year earlier while food inflation slowed. Annual inflation reached this year’s high of 20.02% in April after large monthly rises in March and April, and the Nabatieh figures still rest largely on imputed prices.

Transport prices in Lebanon rose 3.73% in September, the fastest monthly gain of the 12 spending groups, while the overall consumer price index climbed for a second straight month.

Annual inflation climbs back toward its April peak

The Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) puts annual inflation at 17.53% in September, up from 16.66% in August. A year earlier, the rate was 15.06%.

The index stood at 8,935.73 in September. Consumer prices are now more than 89 times their level of December 2013, the index base.

Annual inflation opened 2026 at 10.91% in January, the lowest annual rate since at least January 2024. It then jumped as the index rose 4.91% in March and 3.04% in April. Together, those two months added 8.10% to the index.

That lifted the annual rate to 20.02% in April, the highest since September 2024. It eased for three months to 15.69% in July, then turned up again in August and September.

In its March release, the statistics office said that difficult security conditions had disrupted the regular collection of prices in the areas affected. It said imputation methods, electronic data and shared collection points were used so that the index could be published on schedule.

The index has risen 12.76% since December 2025. The same nine months of 2025 brought a rise of 7.67%.

On the basis of the official annual average, which compares average index levels, the first nine months of 2026 averaged 16.32% above the same period of 2025. The annual average for 2025 was 14.58%, down from 45.24% in 2024.

Lebanon consumer price index, 2026 (in %)

Index December 2013 = 100. April to September indexes are based on a majority of imputed prices in Nabatieh.

Fuel price index climbs 72% on the year while food inflation slows

Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, the largest group in the basket, rose 20.41% on the year. Within it, water, electricity, gas and other fuels climbed 38.91%, and 5.06% in September alone.

Rents moved at very different speeds. Old rents were 32.33% higher than a year earlier. New rents rose 6.86%, and owner-occupied housing 7.03%.

Transportation rose 35.23% on the year. The fuel price index, a supplementary measure that cuts across the groups, rose 8.54% in September and 72.35% on the year.

Within that index, liquid fuels were 91.93% higher than a year earlier. Fuel and lubricants for personal transport rose 81.13%.

Education rose 35.74% on the year, with private education up 36.26%, although the group was almost flat in September. Recreation, amusement and culture, one of the smallest groups by weight, recorded the highest annual rate of any group at 43.61%.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 10.04% on the year, slower than in August. Prices in the group fell 0.23% from August, and annual food inflation is now just over half its March rate of 19.41%.

Communication was the only group cheaper than a year earlier, by 0.65%. Clothing and footwear rose 3.06%, and health 7.29%.

In The Edge’s reading, transport and energy prices rose much faster than food in August and September. Over the two months, transport prices gained 6.45% and water, electricity, gas and other fuels 12.57%. Food prices rose 0.60%.

Consumer prices by group, September 2026 (in %)

Weights are the official basket weights.

Bekaa posts the fastest price gains of the six governorates

Prices rose in all six governorates in September. Bekaa recorded the largest gains, 2.30% on the month and 22.44% on the year.

Beirut had the lowest annual rate at 13.31%, although its monthly rise of 1.45% was the third highest.

Mount Lebanon, which carries 47.2% of the national weight, rose 17.37% on the year.

Nabatieh rose 19.72% on the year and 1.65% on the month. The statistics office said price collection there still faces challenges and that most actual prices could not be collected, so its index was calculated with a large number of imputed prices.

In August, Nabatieh had posted the largest monthly rise of the six, at 2.12%, while Bekaa rose 1.38%.

Consumer prices by governorate, September 2026 (in %)

Weight is each governorate’s share of the national index. Ranked by annual rate. Nabatieh’s index is based on a majority of imputed prices.

What to watch: The October consumer price index, around 24 November: the statistics office releases on the first working day after the 20th, and public administrations close on 23 November for Independence Day; an expectation, not an announced date.

Figures are from the Central Administration of Statistics’ consumer price index release for September 2026, published on 21 October 2026, and its consumer price index series, from which the 2026 monthly path is also taken; percentages and comparisons not attributed to a source are The Edge’s calculations.

Sources: Central Administration of Statistics (Lebanon), National News Agency, The Edge.

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