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Kenya’s inflation slid to 5.07 per cent in February from 5.39 per cent in January 2022, despite the public outcry over the price surge of basic commodities.

In the latest data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the price change percentage of a basket of basic commodities consumed, increased by 0.40 per cent to 119.115 in February, up from 118.642 in January 2022.

“This was mainly due to an increase in prices of commodities under; food and non-alcoholic beverages (8.69 per cent); furnishings, household equipment and routine household maintenance (5.41 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (4.79 per cent); and transport (4.45 per cent),” it stated.

Month-to-month Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index increased by 0.83 per cent between January and February 2022. “This was mainly attributed to an increase in prices of some food items, which outweighed the decrease in prices of others,” KNBS director-general Macdonald Obudho said. The inflation rate also defied the increase in electricity, housing, water, gas and other fuel whose index surged by 0.12 per cent. A single room, for instance, increased by 0.24 per cent while the transport index rose by 0.04 per cent.

During the month, households paid more for cooking fat, capsicums (pili pili hoho), potatoes (Irish), and maize flour-sifted by 5.20, 3.69, 2.64 and 2.32 per cent.

Widely consumed

Cabbage, widely consumed in the country, went down slightly with a kilo averaging Sh49.82 from Sh49.96 in January. A kilo of onion, however, increased by 2.298 per cent over the last month, from Sh127.94 to Sh130.87 in February. A 2-kg packet of sifted maize flour, a staple food in most households, sold for an average of Sh129.25, up from 126.31 in January while one-litre cooking oil hiked from Sh142.05 to 149.44 in February. 

The prices are however anticipated to hike in the coming months following acute shortage of maize and wheat in the country occasioned by the heightened Ukraine-Russia tension that has hitched global supply chain.“Prices of food items in February 2022 were relatively high compared with prices of food items recorded in February 2021,” Obudho noted.