East Africa member countries face rising inflation as the year comes to an end. Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda saw prices of goods rise in November, as the festive season began. Kenya’s inflation rose from 4.95% in October to 5.56% in November. At the same time, East African notes that Tanzania’s inflation rose by 0.2% in November. Uganda’s annual headline inflation rose 3 percent in November from 2.5% in October 2019 while Rwanda’s inflation grew by 2.5%.
The cost of food rose across the board, which explains the rising inflation in East Africa. In Kenya, the cost of a 2kg maize flour packet rose from KSh 125.4 in October to KSh 130.77 in November. Similarly, Tanzania’s price for a kilo of beef rose from between TSh 5,000 and 5,500 to TSh 6,3000 in the past two months. However, Uganda saw its food prices maintain a 0% inflation in November from a drop of 0.9% twelve months to October. This is because vegetables inflation rose by 0.9% whereas inflation of fruits fell from 8.1% to 7.7%.
Additionally, the price of non-food items also increased in the past two months. In Kenya, the cost of transport grew by 0.29% whereas Tanzania recorded an increase of 12.5% for the transport sector.
Lastly, Uganda’s inflation of clothing and footwear went up. The category’s inflation rose by 0.8% from 3.8% between October and November, mostly due to Christmas shopping.
