Exactly a week to the General Elections, Kenya’s Stats office (KNBS) has announced that July inflation rate dropped to a six -onth low of 7.47 percent from 9.21 percent reported in June.
Much of the drop was due to a slowdown in prices of food according to KNBS. Yet, the inflation slowed for second month in July after hitting a 5-year high of 11.7 percent in May as of drought which caused a surge in food inflation.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by a slight margin of 12.19 percent compared to 15.81 percent in June while transport was at 2.77 percent from 4.23 percent driven by a decrease in prices of fuel; mainly petrol and diesel.
However, inflation for housing and utilities increased by 3.03 percent compared to 2.96 percent in June, and clothing and footwear by 4.07 percent from 3.99 percent.
This comes few days after one of the world’s leading research firms, Capital Economics raised concerns about the accuracy of the economic data provided by the Government, “The lead-up to Kenya’s general election in August is coinciding with rising scepticism in the country about the quality of official economic figures.” The company noted.
The research firm argues that the Government may be misrepresenting the health of East Africa’s largest economy.
READ; Capital Economics raises concerns over accuracy of Kenya’s official GDP figures
