Kenya’s inflation jumped slightly in February, driven by rising prices for food and local flights, the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) reveals.
The monthly statistics show the country’s anntuall inflation stood at 3.5% in February, from 3.3% in January.
According to KNBS, the State Agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and disseminating statistical information in Kenya, the slight jump in the annual inflation was driven by the rising prices in the Transport category and Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages categories by 0.7% and 6.4%, respectively.
However, prices in the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and other FuelS categories declined by 0.8% over the past year.
The monthly inflation stood at 0.3% in February 2025.
The prices of sugar were 3.2% higher than a month ago. Kenyans also paid more for tomatoes and cooking oil as prices surged by 1.3% and 1.6%, respectively, between January and February this year.
The data, however, shows the prices of Irish potatoes and white wheat flour declined by 1.8% and 2.4%, respectively, during the same period.
Also, prices in the Housing, Water, Electric, Gas, and other fuels index increased by 0.1% between January 2025 and February 2025.
This was mainly attributed to the 0.6% increase in the price of gas/LPG during the same one-month period.
But the prices for the 50kWh and 200 kWh electricity were reduced by 1.4% and 1.2%, respectively, during the same period.
The Transport Index surged by 0.1% over the past month, mainly driven by a surge in prices for local flights by 4.8%. Fuel prices remained unchanged between January and February this year.
