Inflation falls in January though food prices rise

Kenya’s inflation fell to 7.78 per cent year-on-year in January, from 8.01 per cent the previous month, though rises in the prices of some foodstuffs kept it high, the statistics office said.

The food and non-alcoholic drinks index increased by 0.47 per cent between the months of December and January, driven by a “notable increases in prices of some food items,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

Last December, Kenya’s central bank governor said the inflation rate would likely start falling when heavy rains, which make roads impassable and cut farmers off from markets, stop. Rains, blamed on the el Nino weather phenomenon, have been particularly heavy in recent weeks.

The central bank raised the benchmark lending rate by a total of 300 basis points in June and July after the shilling weakened sharply, helping stabilise the currency. —Reuters