The Beirut.com Inflation Index

Inflation has well and truly struck Lebanon these past three years, and every year seems to just be getting a little worse. While we could look at statistics to understand how inflation hits, no one really cares, or can visualize, what a 178% inflation rate actually is. Thus, we have decided to look back at the best of Beirut.com’s late 2021 posts and compare prices from then and now so we can properly see how prices have soared in 2022.

The Basics

Before we start our mission, let’s figure out the basics.

The dollar rate in December 2021 was hovering between 26,000 and 28,000. Today, it is close to 43,000 LL.

A tank of Octane 95 fuel was 318,800 L.L. on December 14. Today, it is 753,000 L.L. Diesel was going for 338,000 L.L. as opposed to 813,000 today, and a cylinder of gas has increased by 176,000 L.L. during the same period.

Man’ouche Meter

On November 2nd, 2021, Here’s How Much A Man’ouche Costs At These 9 Places

Back then, the most expensive Cheese man’ouche was 35,000 L.L., and the most expensive Zaatar man’ouche 12,000 L.L. The average of all nine Cheese man’eeche was 28,777 L.L., and for all nine Zaatar it was 9,555 L.L.

We have surveyed nine (some different) bakeries this year. The most expensive Cheese man’ouche was 115,000 L.L. (Lebanese Bakery) and the cheapest 45,000 L.L. (Ghazar Bakery). For Zaatar, the highest was 45,000 L.L. (Wooden Bakery) and the lowest 20,000 L.L. (multiple). On average, the price of a Cheese man’ouche today is 77,222 L.L, and the price of a Zaatar man’ouche is 36,555 L.L.

This is an increase of 48,445 for Cheese and 27,000 for Zaatar, or a 168% and 300% increase respectively.

Pizza Meter

On November 14th, 2021, we found out How Much A Classic Pizza Costs At These 10 Places

On average, a medium-sized pizza cost 81,428 L.L, and a large-sized pizza cost 116,000 L.L back then. The cheapest medium pizza was 50,000 L.L, while the most expensive was 90,000 L.L

Today, you won’t be surprised to find out that’s increased. We surveyed five pizza-specialized restaurants and five forons to find out how much you’d have to fork out for a slice of Italian heaven today.

On average, a medium sized pizza will run you 212,500 L.L. across all stores, the average increases to 332,000 at the pizza speciality stores, and decreases to 93,000 L.L. at your local foron. For large pizza, those numbers are 321,000, 468,000, and 174,000 L.L.

This represents an inflation rate of 160% for medium sized pizzas and 177% for large sized pizzas.

Movie Meter

On December 5th, 2021, we found out How Much A Movie Ticket Costs At These 8 Spots

In 2021, a ticket at Vox Cinemas would cost you 65,000 L.L. Today, that same ticket is 120,000 L.L. At Grand Cinemas, it has increased from 75,000 L.L. to 150,000 L.L. While Cinemacity has gone up from 100,000 to 150,000 too.

These translate to 84%, 100%, and 50% inflation rates respectively, or an average 78% inflation across the sector.

Interested in more everyday inflation tracking? Maybe a shawarma meter or a book meter? Stay tuned for more.