Relief for Kenyans as inflation drops to 7.06%

Overall year year on year inflation stood at 7.06% in September down from 8.04% recorded in August on account of reduced food prices, according to latest statistics from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

According to KNBS’s data for the monthly Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and rates of inflation, between August and September this, Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks’ Index decreased by 1.28 per cent.

“This was due to fall in the cost of some food items which was mainly attributed to a relief from a situation of depressed supply of goods and services as experienced in August 2017. As a result, the year on year food inflation dropped to 11.50% in September 2017,” it said in a statement Friday.

During the same review period, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index, decreased by 0.16%. This was mainly due to notable decrease in the cost of electricity which outweighed observed marginal increases in the cost of house rents and cooking fuels.

The Transport Index recorded an increase of 0.70% over the same period, on account of increase in pump prices of petrol and diesel.

The survey shows that the price of a one kilogramme of maize flour, a staple food in Kenya, dropped by 3.96% in September to sell at Ksh 59.27 down from Ksh 61.71% last month.

One kilogramme of loose maize grains, on the other hand, fell by 1.88% to sell at Ksh 57.84 down from Ksh 61.71 in August.

According to the survey, one kologramme of sugar was selling at Ksh 142.42 down from Ksh 145.10 last month – a marginal drop of 1.85%.

Sukuma wiki, a favourite dish for low income earners, was this month selling at Ksh 41.48 per kilogramme down from Ksh 42.19 last month while a kilogramme of spinach was selling at Ksh 52.48 an increase of 3.17% from last month’s price of Ksh 50.86.

Similarly, the price of a kilogramme of beef rose by 3.46% to sell at Ksh 406.04 as compared to last month’s average price of Ksh 400.48, according to the KNBS survey.

The price of onions also shot up by 4.09% with a kilogramme selling at Ksh 132.58 up from last month’s price of Ksh 127.32 while that of tomatoes rose by 4.79% to sell at Ksh 103.45% up from Ksh 98.72.

The price of carrots dropped by 31.88% to sell at Ksh 67.55 per kilogramme down from Ksh 99.16 in August while that of cabbages shrunk to Ksh 46.58 from Ksh 53.54 in August representing a 13.01% drop.

Four kilogrammes of charcoal were selling at Ksh 81.86 up from last month’s Ksh 81.61, representing a 0.30% increase while a 13-kilogramme LPG gas-filled cylinder was trading at Ksh 2,094.22 compared to last month’s Ksh2,080.10 representing a 0.68% increase.

The price of kerosene, on the other hand, went up by 1.45% to sell at Ksh 65.34 per litre compared to last month’s average price of Ksh 64.41.

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The price of one litre of diesel rose to Ksh 87.81 from Ksh 86.84% last month, a 1.15% hike while that of petrol increased by 2.29% to sell at Ksh 99.20 up from Ksh 96.98 last month.

However, the cost of electricity decrease with 50 Kwh costing Ksh 581.79 in September, a significant drop of 10.70% from last month’s cost of Ksh 651.47. On the other hand, 200 Kwh of electricity costed Ksh 3,665.54 down from last month’s Ksh 3,944.26, a 7.07% drop.

Rent for a one room residential house, however, rose to Ksh 4,177.08, an increase of 1.666% from last month’s Ksh 4,108.70

KNBS says the prices were obtained from selected retail outlets in 25 data collection zones spread across Nairobi and 13 other urban centres. Overall, the CPI decreased by 0.57% from 184.72 in August to 183.66 in September.