Maize prices dropped 41 percent to Sh35.63 per kilogramme in February 2019 compared with Sh60.37 in February last year as per KNBS data.
Prices of tomatoes and cabbages dropped by 16.3 percent and 3.36 percent respectively.
A fall in the price of maize, Kenya’s staple food, helped to ease the cost of living to a six-month low as per inflation data released Thursday by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The February inflation rate of 4.14 percent was the lowest in half a year, as maize prices dropped 41 percent to Sh35.63 per kilogramme in February 2019 compared with Sh60.37 in February last year as per KNBS data.
A similar quantity of maize flour eased by 30.68 percent to Sh86.67 in February this year compared to the same period last year.
The cost of other foodstuffs such as wheat flour and sugar also dropped, sending overall inflation closer to last August’s level of 4.04 percent.
“The cost of several foodstuffs in February 2019 was much lower compared to the same period of the previous year...These lower prices contributed to a relatively low overall inflation in February 2019,” said KNBS.
The influx of grain in the market due to good weather has subdued buying price of a 90-kilogramme bag from a high of Sh2,100 in January to Sh1,800 in February.
Closely monitored
Food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index carries the largest weight (36.04 percent) in determining the direction of inflation and is therefore closely monitored by policy makers.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels follows with a weight of 18.3 percent. Year-on-year, the price of a kilogramme of spinach dropped 20.66 percent to Sh49.77 as that of sukumawiki eased by 10.86 percent to Sh47.30.
Prices of tomatoes and cabbages dropped by 16.3 percent and 3.36 percent respectively.
The drop in inflation marked a straight fall in three months, remaining within Central Bank of Kenya’s target range of between 2.5 percent and 7.5 percent.
The highest the rate has touched in the last 13 months is 5.71 percent, which came in December last year.
Significant decreases
During the review period, the transport index decreased by 0.50 percent, mainly as a result of significant decreases in pump prices of petrol and diesel.
In mid-February, the Energy Regulatory Commission cut the price of diesel, super petrol and kerosene by Sh6.28, Sh4.12 and Sh5.20 per litre respectively.
However, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ index increased by 0.12 percent month-on-month.
This was due to increased cost of some house rents and some cooking fuels.
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