Prices still high despite low inflation -KNBS

 

Shoppers in a supermarket.

The cost of buying goods and services in the month of August 2024, has increased by 5.85 percent compared to a similar period last year.

This means that, for a product costing Sh100 last year, Kenyans had to part with Sh5.85  more in August of 2024 despite a drop in inflation in the period.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) a measure that examines the average change in prices over time for a basket of goods and services commonly purchased by households, show that the overall index increased from 134.02points last year to 139.87 points this year.

The index is used to track inflation by indicating how much the cost of living is rising or falling and is calculated by comparing the current price of this basket to the price in the previous base year.

However, despite the rise in CPI over the period, monthly statistics released by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics shows that inflation dropped to 4.4 percent from 6.7 percent last year.

“The year on year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 4.4 per cent in August 2024. This means that the general price level was 4.4 per cent higher in August 2024 than it was in August 2023,” KNBS said in its monthly update.

The price increase was mainly driven by the rise in prices of commodities under Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (5.3 per cent); Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (4.2 per cent) and Transport (3.9 per cent) between August 2023 and August 2024.

These three divisions account for over 57 per cent of the weights of the 13 broad categories.

The alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics year on year index rose by 8.2 per cent.

For instance, a kilogram of tomatoes that cost Sh74.18 in 2023 went up to Sh86.84 in August 2024.

However, a KG of sugar that was retailing at Sh218.25 last year has now dropped to Sh158.19 in August.

The CPI and inflation is generated from data collected through the monthly survey of retail prices that targets a representative basket of household consumption goods and services.

The data collection is conducted in the second and third weeks of the month from a representative sample of outlets located in 50 data collection zones across the country.

by JACKTONE LAWI