Kenyans will continue to grapple with tighter budgets as the year-on-year inflation rate surged to 4.4% in August 2024, according to the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
This rise in inflation was significantly influenced by higher costs in key areas of daily expenditure.
“Overall year-on-year (annual) inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.4 per cent, in August 2024; a slight increase from an inflation rate of 4.3 per cent recorded in July 2024,” KNBS said in the report.
“The annual inflation was mainly due to an increase in prices of commodities under the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP).”
In the last 12 months, KNBS reports, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages surged by 5.3%, while the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose by 4.2%.
The transport sector also saw a price increase of 3.9% in the duration. These three divisions account for over 57 per cent of the weights of the 13 broad categories.
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KNBS Lists Products with Increased Prices in August Alone
In the report, KNBS noted that prices of potatoes (1kg), oranges and mangoes increased by 7.1%, 3.2% and 2.6 per cent, respectively in the month of August.
The price of one kilogram of mangoes has increased from Ksh117.90 to Ksh 121.02, while the price of oranges has risen from Ksh 91.05 to Ksh 93.94. Potatoes price rose from Ksh 121.97 to Ksh130.57 in the month of August.
According to the report, the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ index increased by 0.3 per cent, which is attributable to rise in prices of 200 kWh of electricity and 50 kWh of electricity by 1.6 per cent and 1.8 per cent, respectively.
In August, the cost of 200 kWh of electricity rose to Ksh 5,754.48, up from Ksh 5,663.40 the previous month. Additionally, the price for 50 kWh increased to Ksh 1,284.95 from Ksh 1,262.18 in July.
At the same time, the KNBS report showed that a two- bedroom house rent was at Ksh 18,144.48 in July but in August it stood at Ksh18,200.54.
Furthermore, the Transport Index increased by 0.3 per cent between July 2024 and August 2024 mainly due to an increase in the prices of country bus fares.
Country Bus matatu fare from Mombasa to Kisumu will now cost Ksh 2,500 up from Ksh2,000.
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Similarly, the prices of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics index rose by 1.9 per cent between July 2024 and August 2024.
This was mainly driven by an increase in prices of cigarettes by 14.5 per cent between July 2024 and August 2024. In August, the cost of one packet of cigarettes increased to Ksh 268.47, up from Ksh 234.47.
Commodity Prices the Decreased
The food and non-alcoholic beverages Index decreased by 0.7 per cent between July 2024 and August 2024.
In particular, prices of tomatoes, spinach, onion-leeks and bulbs and kale-sukuma wiki decreased by 12.0, 6.7, 5.6 and 4.6 per cent, respectively, between July 2024 and August 2024.
Likewise, non-food items which recorded a decrease in prices include one Kg of sugar from Ksh164.42 to Ksh 158.19.
During the same period, prices of petrol, Kerosene and diesel remained unchanged.
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