A typical evening at Kongowea Karama area in Nyali Sub-County, Mombasa, is characterised by pockets of residents crowding around fishmongers, retail shops and groceries to buy foodstuffs before they rush home to prepare supper.

Here, the reality of the cost of living in Mombasa is evident as buyers go for bargains, hoping to buy commodities at the lowest prices possible. Fishmongers usually attract the most crowds and the scramble for fish heads — which normally cost between Sh10 and Sh15 — is a common affair.

According to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the national average prices of food had decreased marginally in July 2023, owing largely to a decline in grocery prices which pushed the overall inflation rate downwards to 7.3 per cent, the government’s preferred range.

This was the first time since June 2022 that inflation returned to the targeted range of between 2.5 and 7.5 per cent despite the prices of staples such as maize flour and sugar remaining elevated.

The last time, was below 7.5 per cent was in May 2022 when it stood at 7.1 per cent. In the past month, the price index of the food category decreased by just 0.5 per cent, according to the KNBS data for July.
The overall inflation – a measure of the cost of living – was however lower than the rate of 7.9 per cent recorded in June.

The heat is however being felt according to Derrick Ochieng, a Third Year university student. He says the cost of living is high and it has even affected his diet as he no longer affords green vegetables.
“A bunch of managu used to cost Sh15 but now it is Sh25,” he says. “Spider plant vegetables now cost between Sh30 and Sh40 per bunch up from Sh20. This why I stopped taking vegetables,” he says.

He is not alone. A fishmonger, who only identifies herself as Mama Jay, says inflation has affected her business since last year.

“Everything has gone up and so I had to adjust my prices so that I can at least get some little profit,” she says. “However I ended up losing some clients as they have since complained that they are unable to afford”. She used to sell fish heads for Sh10 but raised the price to between Sh15 and Sh20 because transport costs have gone up.

End up with debts

And last month, when the revised Value Added Tax on fuel kicked in, food prices at the Port City jumped to a new high. Salim Hamisi Diwani, a tomato trader at the market, says suppliers used to sell a crate at Sh6,000 but now the same costs Sh11,000. The change, Diwani says, translates to higher prices at retail outlets, since they have to add their own mark-up.

Suppliers used to sell a kilo of arrowroots at Sh80 and the whole sellers would ask for Sh100. But with the new fuel prices, one arrowroots trader, Catherine Daniel, says supplier price has jumped to Sh113 a kilo.
“We are struggling to make sales and we end up with debts,” she says. “Everything has gone up by a big margin. Like these pumpkins you are seeing here. We used to buy at Sh30 to Sh35 but now we are buying from Sh70 and above…we are not making much.”

As a result, some of her customers have opted to forego such foodstuffs.

Shantel Nduku who runs an eatery in the Mkomani area, echoes Catherine’s sentiments. She says profit margins in her business have dropped from Sh1,000 to Sh400 a day in the last one year, something she blames on inflation.