Kenya: May inflation eases to 5.47% despite rising Consumer Price Index

Last updated on September 11th, 2021 at 02:47 pm

The country’s year-on-year inflation rate eased to 5.47 per cent in May from 5.62 per cent in April, latest data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) indicate.

This is despite a 0.63 per cent increase in overall Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the percentage change in the price of a basket of goods and services consumed by households.

CPI increased from 107.92 in April to 108.60 in May.

Overall inflation opened the year at 5.78 per cent(January) before rising to 6.80 per cent in February. It later eased to 5.51 per cent in March.

This month’s drop was as a result of a reduction in prices of some household commodities such as avocado which retailed at Sh67.69 a kilo, down from Sh70.89 a kilo in April.

A kilogramme of irish potatoes also went down to Sh71.63 from Sh74.29 while that of tomatoes dropped to Sh115.89 from Sh119.47 last month.

“Prices of some food items such as avocado, irish potatoes and tomatoes decreased by 4.50, 3.58 and 3.0 per cent , respectively,”KNBS director general Zachary Mwangi noted in a statement on Friday.

Food and non-alcoholic drinks index however increased by 0.86 per cent between April and May as year-on-year food inflation stood at 10.55 per cent in the month under review.

(TheStar)