Drought sends April inflation up to 7.08 p.c., prices increase

Chemkea Nachulia (left) and Chepsimai Korau from Seretion village in Chemolingot, East Pokot, headed to Kositei, 8 kilometers away to fetch water on May 09, 2014. Drought experienced in the first quarter of 2015 has pushed up the cost of living to an eighth-month high almost breaching the government’s upper limit of 7.5 per cent. FILE PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that April inflation rose to 7.08 per cent, the highest level in eight months, up from 6.31 per cent in March as dry weather saw the cost of food in the period increase.
  • There were significant price increases of maize flour, potatoes, tomatoes, milk, cabbages, beans and onions between March and April. This pushed up the food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index by 3.92 per cent.

Drought experienced in the first quarter of 2015 has pushed up the cost of living to an eighth-month high almost breaching the government’s upper limit of 7.5 per cent.

Data released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics indicates that April inflation rose to 7.08 per cent, the highest level in eight months, up from 6.31 per cent in March as dry weather saw the cost of food in the period increase.

There were significant price increases of maize flour, potatoes, tomatoes, milk, cabbages, beans and onions between March and April. This pushed up the food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index by 3.92 per cent.

“The observed food price increases were mainly attributed to the dry weather conditions,” the bureau’s director-general Zachary Mwangi noted.

In the same period, housing, water, electricity and other fuels’ index went up by 0.23 per cent.

The government has set a limit of 5 per cent (plus or minus 2.5 per cent) as a medium-term target for inflation but this level may not be sustained thereby worsening the cost of living.