Kenya’s year-on-year inflation increased to 3.0% in December, up from November’s 2.8%, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said on Tuesday.
The month-on-month inflation was 0.6% in December compared to 0.3% in November, following the increase in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from 140.81 to 141.66 over that period.
KNBS said the price increase in December was primarily driven by the surge in prices of commodities under Transport (0.2%) and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (4.8%) between December 2023 and December 2024.
The prices of sifted, fortified, and loose maize flour surged by 7.0%, 5.8%, and 1.8%, respectively, over the last month. However, prices of cabbages and potatoes dropped by 2.8% and 5.0%, respectively.
Electricity prices also increased between November 2024 and December 2024. The price of 50 kWh of electricity increased by 0.6%, while the price of 200 kWh of power increased by 0.5%.
Fare prices increased over the period, with some routes registering an increase of up to 50%. The Transport Index increase came despite the decline in petrol and diesel prices by 2.4% and 1.8% respectively.
The rise in inflation comes after the Central Bank of Kenya trimmed its benchmark interest rate by 75 basis points from 12% to 11.25% at its final Monetary Policy Meeting (MPC) of 2024.
The easing inflation in the first half of 2024 was among the factors that informed CBK’s recent rate cut.
