The general price level of commodities in the country rose by about 6.9% in January this year, reflecting a continued increase in the cost of living for many households, latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics show.
The KNBS consumer price indices and inflation rates for January 2024 indicates that the overall year on year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
was 6.9% in January 2024.
This means that in January 2024, the general price level was 6.9% higher than that of January 2023.
The report notes that this increase was mainly driven by increases in prices of commodities under transport at 10.6%, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels at 9.7% and food and non-alcoholic beverages at 7.9% between January 2023 and January 2024.
“These three divisions account for over 57% of the weights of the 13 broad categories,” KNBS notes.
The CPI and inflation is generated from data collected through monthly surveys of retail prices that target a representative basket of household consumption goods and services.
The data collection is conducted in the second and third weeks of the month from a representative sample of outlets located in 50 data collection zones across the country.
The report notes that prices of cabbages, carrots, oranges and potatoes (Irish) increased by 10, 7.4, 3.1 and 1.7%, respectively between December 2023 and January 2024.
During the same period, however, prices of mangoes, tomatoes and sugar dropped by 3.8, 3.6 and 2.2% respectively.
The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index increased by 1.6% between December 2023 and January 2024. This was mainly due to an increase in prices of 200 kWh and 50 kWh of electricity by 11.4% and 13.7% respectively.
The increase had been attributed to the rise in price of foreign exchange rate fluctuation adjustment per kWh by 103.1%. On the flipside, the price of a litre of Kerosene dropped by 2.4% during the same period.
The Transport Index dropped by 0.9% during the period, mainly due to decrease in prices of petrol and diesel by 2.3% and 2.5% respectively.
“The year on year inflation for education services, which follows a normal seasonal trend, was 2.8%. There was an increase of 1.8% in the indices for education Services between December 2023 and January 2024, occasioned by a rise in tuition fees,” KNBS said.
Email your news TIPS to Editor@nairobilawmonthly.com, and to advertise with us, call +254715061658 anytime of the day
