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May inflation rises to 5.1 per cent on increased food, electricity prices

A file picture of Kenya Power engineers repairing a transformer. (Photo: Handout)

By Alfred Onyango | Saturday, June 1, 2024

The prices of spinach, kale (sukuma wiki), tomatoes, and Irish potatoes increased by 18.2 per cent, 15 per cent, 14 per cent, and 6.2 per cent, respectively.

The prices of some food commodities and electricity increased between April and May 2024, pushing the inflation level to 5.1 per cent, from the 5 per cent record in April.

Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the prices of spinach, kale (sukuma wiki), tomatoes, and Irish potatoes increased by 18.2 per cent, 15 per cent, 14 per cent, and 6.2 per cent, respectively.

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Notably, the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels Index increased by 1.2 per cent between April 2024 and May 2024, mainly due to the rise in prices of 200 kWh and 50 kWh of electricity by 6.9 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively. The Transport Index also increased by 0.2 per cent.

In the period under review, however, the price of sifted, fortified maize flour, loose maize grain, and white wheat flour decreased by 3.2 per cent, 2.3 per cent, 1.6 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.

The rices of gas/LPG and kerosene also dropped by 0.6 per cent and 1.0 per cent, respectively, during the period.

Additionally, prices of petrol and diesel dropped by 0.5 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

Year-on-year, the price increase was mainly driven by a rise in prices of commodities under transport (8.1 per cent); food and non-alcoholic beverages (6.2 per cent); and housing, water, lectricity, gas, and other fuels (4.4 per cent) between May 2023 and May 2024.

The three divisions account for over 57 per cent of the total household consumption.

The rise in the measure of the general cost of living for May brings to an end the three months of a downward trend, from 6.9 per cent in January, 6.3 per cent in February, 5.7 per cent in March, and 5 per cent in April.