Kenya’s consumer prices rose at the slowest rate in 46 months in July, mainly due to lower average food and energy prices, official data showed.
Inflation – a measure of the increase in the cost of goods and services compared to the previous year – fell to 4.3 percent from 4.6 percent in June, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics.
The average price growth rate was the slowest since September 2020, when it stood at 4.2 percent.
The easing of inflationary pressures was supported by increased food production and moderation in fuel and electricity costs compared to July last year.
Average food prices rose 5.6 percent year-on-year in July, but fell 0.5 percent from June, helped by relatively good rainfall last year and lower fertilizer prices, the data showed.
“In particular, prices of tomatoes, brown wheat flour, onions, shallots, sifted maize flour decreased by 5.5, 4.2, 4.1 and 3.3 percent respectively, between June 2024 and July 2023,” KNBS Managing Director MacDonald Obodo said in a statement.
Data from South Korea’s National Statistical Office shows the price of cornmeal, a staple food, fell by the largest margin compared with last year.
Kenyan households paid an average of Sh130.38 for a 2kg bag of sifted maize flour, a 35.8 per cent decrease compared to Sh202.93 in July 2023.
Prices of subsidized maize flour also fell by 35.1 percent to Sh147.30 per two-kilogramme bag, while the price of a kilogram of bulk maize grain also fell by 29.8 percent to Sh60.16 on average in July.
Households also saw relief in the costs of other food items such as sugar which fell by 22.3 percent year-on-year per kilogram to Sh164.42 and white wheat flour which fell by 10.9 percent to Sh177.07 per two-kilogram pack on average.
However, the cost of cabbage jumped 46.1 percent year-on-year to Sh78.42 per kilogram on average in July.
On the other hand, the average cost of housing, water, electricity, cooking gas and other fuels rose by a modest 3.9% year-on-year, but fell by 0.4% month-on-month.
Households consuming 200 kilowatt hours (kWh) paid an average of Sh5,663.40 in July, down 11.7 percent from a year ago, while the cost of purchases of 50 units fell by 4.4 percent to Sh1,262.18 on average.
KNBS data showed that a 4.5 percent year-on-year decline in per litre diesel to an average of Sh172.33 and a 3 percent decline in petrol to an average of Sh189.46 per litre helped cushion the rise in transport costs.
The transportation index remained stable on a monthly basis, rising 0.1% compared to June, but up 4.0% compared to the previous year.
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