With the beginning of the year 2018, the increase of the Value Added Tax took effect, raising the tax rate to 11% in Lebanon.
With this increase, the citizens are expected to be affected by the raised prices of goods for the following reasons:
There are 50 thousand commodities in the Lebanese markets, 60% of which are subject to the VAT and the prices of which will be directly affected by the tax increase. Among these goods we find chocolates, canned foods, soaps and others.
For example, the item with a net price of 5,000 LBP, will become worth 5,550 LBP with the tax increase, instead of 5,500 LBP.
Even the items not subject to the VAT, their prices are expected to be raised by the merchants, since they will indirectly affected by the tax increase.
For more details, watch the full report in the video above