New version of Consumer Price Index

Amendments of
household expenditures weights

The Central Administration of Statistics (CAS) launched last week a revised version of the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
The new version will maintain the same categories of household expenditures. The weight given to each category will change due to the changing spending habits of the population. The increased weights mainly concern the housing, water, electricity, gas, food, transportation, and health. The housing expenditure section is also divided between old rent and new rent.
“The new CPI will represent a source for the new calculation of living conditions,” said Prime Minister Tamam Salam. He said: “This new step must be adopted by all the private and public sectors to have accurate information that we can rely on in our economic expectations.”
The new CPI is also divided into six sub indexes concerning all the mohafazat.
The CPI amendment process was assisted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).