Headline inflation eased in July for the second straight month on the back of marginal price reductions in key household costs such as electricity and fuel, but consumers stretched their budgets following increases in other household costs.
- •A Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) survey shows that 13kg of cooking gas rose from Ksh3,213.97 in June to Ksh3219.58 in July 2024, the item was retailing at Ksh2,787.83 a year earlier.
- •In June, the national average retail price of a kilo of cabbages was Ksh75.52; this went up last month to Ksh78.42 while the price of a litre of cooking oil rose to Ksh328.73 from Ksh326.36 in June.
- •However, a reduction in other items such as electricity, fuel products and select food items offset the difference easing the cost of living in July to 4.3 per cent from 4.8 per cent in June, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) says.
However, the survey also noted that the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index decreased by 0.5 per cent between June 2024 and July 2024. In particular, prices of tomatoes, wheat flour-brown, onion-leeks and bulbs and maize flour- sifted dropped by 5.5, 4.2, 4.1 and 3.3 per cent, respectively, between June 2024 and July 2024.
The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index declined by 0.4 per cent between June 2024 and July 2024 due to decreases in prices of 200 kWh of electricity, 50 kWh of electricity and kerosene by 9.4, 4.4 and 0.8 per cent, respectively.
The Transport Index dropped by 0.1 per cent between June 2024 and July 2024 mainly due to decrease in prices of petrol and diesel by 0.5 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.
The current retail prices in Nairobi for Super Petrol, Diesel and Kerosene are KSh188.84, KSh171.60 and KSh161.75, respectively.
How Inflation Works
Inflation is a measure of how fast prices of essential goods and services are rising. It is how fast your money is losing its purchasing power, meaning lower inflation is largely good for your wallet. Since money is at the centre of this, the Central Bank of Kenya controls money supply in the economy by adjusting interest rates to keep the economy running.
Read more in our explainer on why slower inflation does not mean lower prices and why the recent figures for July are within the target range.