Lebanon's CPI up by 208.13 pct y-o-y in March

Lebanon's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in March increased by 208.13 percent year-on-year, and rose by 6.1 percent compared to February, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.

Over the past three years, Lebanon has been suffering from an unprecedented financial crisis amid a shortage of foreign currency reserves, causing a collapse of the local currency and devaluing people's salaries by over 90 percent.

The shortage of foreign currency reserves posed great challenges for the country which imports around 70 percent of its consumed products.

Lebanon's crisis was further exacerbated by the Ukraine-Russia conflict which led to price hikes of all kinds of products, dealing a heavy blow to the country's limited-income population and forcing people to focus their purchases on basic and affordable food items.