Cost of living drops on lower food prices

Alloys Omanwa arranges the fresh produce at his stall at Kisii Municipal market on 28/8/2018..The varieties of fresh produce have increased in the local market pushing down the prices.(photo Sammy Omingo/Standard)

The cost of living has dropped following a decline in price of food due to the rains experienced across the country in the last two months.

The rate of inflation reduced to 5.49 per cent in May from 6.58 per cent in April, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), which attributed the decline to lower prices of food commodities.

“The Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks Index decreased by 0.37 per cent in May 2019 mainly due to favourable weather conditions which led to lower prices for some commodities. During this period, prices of spinach, sukuma wiki and tomatoes recorded decreases of 10.69, 9.35, and 6.78 per cent respectively,” said KNBS.

Inflation rate started going up at the beginning of the year, largely due to the dry spell the country was experiencing and shot up to a 19-month high of 6.58 per cent in April from 4.14 per cent in February this year.

The reprieve could however be temporary, with the weatherman having warned that the rains would not be adequate as well as an increase in cost of other commodities that make up the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

According to the KNBS data, the cost of other items, including some food commodities such as dried maize and maize flour, as well as fuel went up.

“Prices of some other foodstuffs like maize grain, sugar and maize flour increased over the same period while still recording lower prices than May last year,” said KNBS.

“During the same period, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index increased by 0.61 per cent as a result of higher costs of house rents and cooking fuels.”

For instance, consumption of 50 KWh of electricity increased by 7.84 per cent from Sh778.73 in April 2019 to Sh839.79 in May 2019 due to increase in fuel adjustment costs.  

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