The annual consumer price inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), was 4.1 per cent in April 2025. This implies that the general price level in April 2025 was 4.1 per cent higher than it was in April 2024.
The price increase was primarily driven by the rise in the prices of items in the Divisions of Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (7.1%), transport (2.3%), and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and other fuels (0.8%) over the one-year period. These three divisions together account for over 57 per cent of the total weight across the 13 major expenditure categories.
CPI measures the cost of purchasing a fixed basket of goods and services, comparing current prices to those of a base period (February 2019).
On the other hand, the inflation rate is derived from data collected through a monthly survey of retail prices that targets a representative basket of household goods and services, with data gathered during the second and third weeks of the month from a statistically representative sample of outlets in urban areas across 50 data collection zones nationwide.
The overall index increased from 143.69 in March 2025 to 144.09 in April 2025, resulting in a monthly inflation of 0.3 per cent.
In addition, the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index increased by 0.4 per cent between March 2025 and April 2025.
Which commodities recorded price rise in March 2025?
Notably, prices of potatoes (Irish), maize grain (loose), and fortified maize flour rose by 4.0, 2.9, and 2.6 per cent, respectively, between March 2025 and April 2025.
However, during the same period, prices of kale- Sukuma wiki and cabbages dropped by 2.3 per cent and 4.0 per cent, respectively, which provides national average prices of selected items.
The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index rose by 0.3 per cent between March 2025 and April 2025. The increase was mainly on account of a rise in the prices of 50 kWh electricity, 200 kWh electricity and gas/LPG by 3.8, 3.4 and 0.3 per cent between March 2025 and April 2025.
Conversely, prices of kerosene dropped by 1.6 per cent over the same period.
Meanwhile, the transport Index rose by 0.5 per cent between March 2025 and April 2025, mainly attributable to an increase in prices of country bus fares duringthe Easter Holidays.
However, prices of petrol and diesel declined by 1.1 per cent and 1.3 per cent in the review period
