NAIROBI: Kenya’s overall inflation rate decreased marginally to 5.53 percent from 6.02 percent, the national statistics bureau.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) attributed the drop to the notable falls in the cost of electricity and cooking fuel costs.
“Between December 2014 and January, Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks’ Index increased by 0.96 percent. The increase in food inflation resulted from observed rises in the prices of several food commodities which outweighed notable falls in the prices of Others,” KNBS said in the statement issued in Nairobi.
On the same period, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ Index rose by 0.55 percent mainly due to higher costs of house rents, which outweighed notable falls in the cost of cooking fuels including electricity, cooking gas and kerosene.
Contributing to lower cost of electricity was fuel cost adjustment, which decreased from 0.03 dollars per KWh in December 2014 to 0.02 dollars per KWh in January.
The bureau, however, recorded an upsurge in the transportation inflation due to higher taxi, minibus and bus fare charges associated with Christmas festivities in 2014.
