Listen to This Article Enhance your reading experience by listening to this article.

SPIKE: The cost of living for Kenyans in May increased by 0.2 per cent, on the back of a rise in the food and non-alcoholic drinks index, pulling up inflation to 5.87 per cent. 

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said the cost of foodstuff and non-alcoholic consumption increased from 114.746 in April to 114.977 in May.

In the period under review, prices of onion-leeks and bulbs, kale (sukuma wiki) and cabbages increased by 5.03, 3.41 and 3.19 per cent, respectively, while those of oranges and Irish potatoes decreased by 3.99 per cent and 2.05 per cent respectively, raising the year-on-year food inflation by 7.02 per cent.

“This food inflation was mainly attributed to increase in prices of some food items, which outweighed the decrease in prices of other foodstuffs,” said Director General Macdonald Obudho.

According to KNBS, the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index, decreased by 0.15 per cent, owing to a decrease in the prices of charcoal and electricity.

Electricity cost

In May, a single bedroom rose marginally by -0.42 per cent from Sh3,679.26 to Sh3,694.71, 50 Kilowatts of electricity cost Sh837.18 down from Sh858.35 while a kilogram of charcoal was sold at Sh58.07 against Sh59.83 in April 2021. 

However, the transport index increased by 0.9 per cent mainly due to an increase in the pump prices of petrol by 2.87 per cent between April and May 2021, with a litre costing Sh127.21 in May against Sh123.66 in April. 

In April inflation remained stable within the medium-term target band set by Central Bank of Kenya, declining marginally to 5.8 per cent from 5.9 per cent in March, driven by lower food inflation and a freeze on fuel price hikes.