Inflation down to lowest level since 2013 on falling food prices
A fruit and vegetables trader. Inflation dropped to 5.27 per cent in April on lower food prices and reduced motoring expenses as petrol prices fell. PHOTO | FILE
Inflation last month dropped to a 34-month low on lower food prices and reduced motoring expenses as petrol prices dropped to a six-year low.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data shows that inflation eased to 5.27 per cent in April from 6.45 per cent a month earlier, marking the lowest level since June 2013.
This is the fourth month in a row that the cost of living measure has dropped since December when it stood at 8.01 per cent.
“In totality food inflation stood at 6.84 per cent, which is the lowest, recorded in the recent past,” KNBS said in a statement. The prices of several food items were, however, up last month including tomatoes, Irish potatoes and spinach.
Food takes up the largest share (36 per cent) of the basket of goods that is used to calculate inflation.
Kenya is in the long rains period, signalling increased food crop yields, which could help cut prices and ease inflationary pressures on household budgets.
The energy regulator mid-April cut petrol prices to a six year low, offering private motorists a relief in transport expenses.
But the price of diesel, used for powering industries, trucks and buses, increased marginally alongside that of kerosene, which is mostly used by low-income households for lighting and powering cook stoves. The bureau data shows that electricity prices remained unchanged for the third month in a row.
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