Kenya’s July inflation rate fell to 4.36%, a low lastly witnessed in September 2019. The drop is attributed to lower prices of food and housing. Food prices and the price of alcoholic beverages fell by 0.80% while the cost of rent fell by 0.36%. Food and rent carry the most weight in Kenya’s inflation basket.
A monthly report by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows that vegetables recorded the largest drop in price. In contrast, the cost of sugar and meat registered a slight increase. In July, Kenyans paid an average of Ksh 96.19 for a kilogram of tomato, Ksh 5.6 less than what they paid in June. Similarly, a kilogram of Irish potatoes sold for Ksh 65.23 in July, a Ksh 2.73 difference compared to Ksh 68.01 last month.
“Prices of tomatoes, Irish potatoes, spinach, onions and kale-sukuma wiki, registered decreases of 5.50, 4.09, 3.24, 3.06 and 2.62 per cent, respectively in July 2020 compared to the prices in June 2020. However, during the same period, prices of offals (matumbo), mutton/goat meat and sugar increased by 0.28, 0.58 and 3.65 per cent, respectively,” reads the KNBS report.
The lower cost of most food items stems from favourable weather which boosted productivity, lower demand, and lax tax measures introduced to lessen the blow of the pandemic.
The average cost of monthly rent in a double-room fell by 0.52% to Ksh 6,264.65, while the price of water fell by 0.61% to KSh 17.29 a litre.
However, transport recorded the highest increase in cost, rising by 4.01% due to the uptick in fuel prices. Pump prices for Diesel and Petrol rose by Ksh 11 and Ksh 17 respectively in July.
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