Kenya’s inflation hits 9.2 percent on rising food, fuel prices

Kenya’s inflation edged up to 9.2 percent in February from 9.0 percent reported in January the statistics office data showed on Tuesday, with policymakers saying the rise was largely driven by uptick in food and transport costs during the period.

The headline inflation ticked up the first time in the last three months following a sustained slowdown since November 2022. Prices for commodities in the all-important categories of food, utilities, and transport, which comprise 57 percent of the 13 broad weight categories, increased significantly in the review period to cause the resurgence.

“The rise in inflation was largely due to increases in prices of commodities under food and non-alcoholic beverages (13.3%), housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (7.6 percent) and transport (12.9 percent) between February 2022 and February 2023,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said.

February saw costlier vegetables relative to January with cabbage prices increasing by 11.3 percent, while sukuma wiki and tomatoes increased by 11 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively.