Here are the goods whose prices shot up the most in February
If you enter a supermarket with Kes1000 you do not need a shopping basket since you can just put the goods under your armpit, goes an off the street Kenyan proverb.
The prices of eight out of 18 basic goods in a typical shopping basket saw a double digit jump putting inflationary pressure in February.
Cooking oil, cooking fat, cabbages, carrots, onions, Irish potatoes, bar soap and petrol all saw price increases of more than ten per cent in February as compared to a similar period in 2021.
Cooking oil prices have jumped 31 per cent over the last one year making that Golden Fry pick one of the most expensive items in a shopping basket.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data shows a litre of salad cooking costs Kes312 up from Kes236 in February last year.
On average households survive on three to five litres of salad a month which makes the commodity very expensive for homes.
The alternative, cooking fat costs Kes149.4 after it also increased 30 percent from Kes114 in a similar period last year.
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Kenyans prefer using salad oil because it is considered healthier with less cholesterol but hard times are changing preferences as homes are forced to tighten their belts.
Onions are 22 percent more expensive this year retailing at Kes130 a kilo while cabbages are 21 per cent more expensive at Kes49.
Laundry soap has increased 16 percent to Kes138.4 while Irish potatoes are up 13 percent to Kes78.
Petrol is up 12 per cent to Kes130 and carrots have increased 11 percent to Kes83.
Although Kerosene was not included in the February inflation figures, January data shows the affordable fuel had skipped 20 per cent to Kes106 from Kes88 last year.
A bunch of Spinach, which is also missing in February data, jumped 21 per cent to January at Kes68.
KNBS avoided some of the expensive items in the February basket and instead included goat milk, mangoes currently in season, and electricity below 50 kilowatt hour which was lowered through the government intervention to bring the cost of power down by 15 per cent.
Inflationary pressure is set to mount in March on aftershocks of the Russia-Ukraine war which is expected to impact supply of wheat and batter the Kenyan currency on global market shocks affecting the cost of imports.
