The overall year on year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 6.3 per cent, in February 2024. This means that in February 2024, the general price level was 6.3 per cent higher than that of February 2023.
This was mainly driven by increases in prices of commodities under Transport (10.8%); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (8.4%); and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (6.9%) between February 2023 and February 2024. These three divisions account for over 57 per cent of the weights of the 13 broad categories.
The CPI and inflation rates are 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 every month from a representative sample of outlets located in 50 data collection zones across the country,” says the Kenya National Bureau of Statics.
The index increased from 138.15 in January 2024 to 138.34 in February 2024, a change of 0.1 per cent.
Further, the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index rose by 0.3 per cent between January 2024 and February 2024.
Which items had price drop in February?
Moreover, the prices of tomatoes, sugar, maize grain-loose and maize flour-loose dropped by 5.7, 4.6, 3.4 and 1.6 per cent, respectively, between January 2024 and February 2024.
During the same period, however, prices of spinach, sukuma wiki and wheat flour-white increased by 3.9, 3.4 and 2.6 per cent, respectively.
The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index decreased by 0.8 per cent between January 2024 and February 2024, mainly due to a drop in prices of 200 kWh and 50 kWh of electricity by 9.3 per cent and 11.0 per cent, respectively.
In addition, the price of a litre of kerosene dropped by 0.5 per cent during the same period.
However, during the same review period, the prices of gas/LPG rose by 4.3 per cent.
Whereas the prices of petrol and diesel decreased by 0.5 per cent between January 2024 and February 2024, the Transport Index went up by by 0.2 per cent during the same period.
