NAIROBI: Kenya’s rate of inflation rose to 6.99 percent year-on-year in January 2017, up from 6.35 in December, mainly on the back of an increase in the price of foodstuff and notable increase in the cost of education. The food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index increased by 1.66 per cent. This was mainly attributed to increases in prices of cabbages,
spinach, sukuma wiki, maize flour, wheat flour, and maize grain which were partly contributed by prevailing drought conditions. The year on year food inflation stood at 12.54 per cent in January 2017. Over the same review period, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ index, increased by 0.33 per cent. This was partly due to increases in cost of electricity, house rents and charcoal which outweighed price decreases in the cost of cooking gas and kerosene. Despite a notable decrease in the cost of diesel, the transport index increased by 0.60 per cent in January 2017 compared to December 2016.
