Kenya’s inflation jumps to 9.2% in February on rising food, gas costs

By Phyllis MUCHOKI

Kenya’s inflation soared to 9.2% year-on-year in February from 9.0% a month earlier, the statistics office said on Tuesday, largely driven by food and gas prices.

February’s inflation rate has broken three consecutive months when the rate fell. It rose to 9.6% in October, its highest level since May 2017. February’s rate is still above the government’s preferred range of 2.5% to 7.5%.

Read: Kenyan businesses prepare for a possible downturn

Inflation — a measure of the cost of living over the last 12 months— rose to 9.2 percent from 9.0 percent the month before, the first rise since October.

Households spent 13.3 percent more to put food on the table compared to a year earlier, increased from a 12.8 percent bump in January, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Food usually has the biggest impact on the overall movement in prices because it accounts for nearly a third of the shopping basket for Kenyan families.

Pressure on food prices mainly came from vegetables whose production has been hit by a prolonged biting drought.

“Prices of most vegetables increased in February 2023 relative to January 2023. The prices of cabbages and carrots each increased by 11.3 percent [while]…kale-sukuma wiki and tomatoes increased by 11.0 percent and 7.8 percent, respectively,” KNBS managing director Macdonald Obudho wrote in a statement.

Consumer and business activity have weakened as a result of domestic headwinds such as continued drought conditions and fiscal consolidation, as well as slowing global growth.

Kenyans are still grappling with sky inflation in the middle of a sluggish economy with reduced cash flow circulation that has forced many workers to cut demand for non-essential items.