Inflation rates jump to 7.32% in November

By Ruth Mutegi

Inflation rates for November have risen to 7.32 percent compared to the 6.72 percent recorded in October.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics is attributing the rise in inflation to the rise in the prices of several food items which the KNBS says outweighed the decreases.

There was however a decrease in prices of food stuff including; Irish potatoes, peas, tomatoes and onions.

Though there were speculations that the onset of El- Nino rains would help bring down the rate of inflation on the expectation of a bumper harvest but instead the heavy rainfall have seen the rise in some food stuffs including tomatoes and onions.

Food stuff such as Irish potatoes, peas, tomatoes and onions recorded an increase in prices which the statistics body says outweighed the decreases.

But while food prices increased, the cost of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels decreased by 0.13 percent highly driven by cost decreases in electricity.

The cost of consuming 50 Kwh and 200 Kwh of electricity decreased by 9.4 percent and 6.1 percent respectively.

The November downward review of fuel costs by the Energy regulatory Commission seems to have had a positive impact on the Transport index which decreased by 0.3 percent in the period under review.

Kenya’s rate of inflation has been on an upward trend since August this year when inflation was at 5.84 percent but has also kept well below the 7.5 percent government’s preferred threshold since January 2015.