Kenya’s inflation rose to 5.62 percent year-on-year in April from 5.51 percent in March, the statistics office said on Thursday.
The rise was attributed to rising food, transport costs that consumers had to spend.
“The increase was mainly attributed to increasing in prices of some food items such as loose maize-grain, sukumawiki, onions, Irish potatoes, and carrots,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in its monthly consumer price index (CPI) data on Thursday.
March inflation rate was revised to 5.51 percent from an initial 6.06 percent as KNBS adjusted its consumer price indexing incorporating 50 data collection zones.
The transport index rose by 1.32 percent owing to higher costs in matatu and taxi fares in spite of a decrease in the cost of petrol and diesel by 16.32 percent and 4.29 percent in the month.
The Central Bank of Kenya expects overall inflation to remain within the target range in the near term, despite the disruptions occasioned by the pandemic.
“Supported by the favourable weather conditions, lower international oil prices, and the reduction of Value Added Tax (VAT) from 16 percent to 14 percent. Demand pressures are expected to remain muted,” said Dr Patrick Njoroge Chairman, Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) when it met on April 29, 2020.
