Lebanon’s inflation falls to two percent

Lebanon officially recorded two percent inflation from July 2012 to July 2013, new figures from the official Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) have shown. The numbers are a steep decline from the last year in which inflation has been between eight and 10 percent. The reason for the decline is one of methodology, not actual prices. For the past year, official inflation has been artificially exaggerated. From August 2009 through June 2012 — a period of three years — CAS did not survey the housing sector. When it did in July 2012, prices had jumped 44 percent from the previous survey. Related article: How bad data distorted Lebanon’s inflation statistics The effect on the overall consumer price index (CPI) was drastic. Since inflation is calculated using the previous year’s index as a baseline, each month following the housing survey falsely recorded skyrocketing inflation, ranging from 8.8 to 11.1 percent. While