Kenya’s inflation rate for March drops to 6.06%

The data from the Kenya National Bureau of Standards show that food and non-alcoholic drinks index increased by 0.55% while prices of petroleum products dropped in the month under review.

The food basket saw an increase in prices of items such as mangoes, Irish potatoes, onions and cooking oils which increased by 5.39%, 2.33%, 2.06% and 0.83 respectively.

The above-mentioned food items retailed at an average price of Sh98.98, Sh69.81, 1Sh10.60 and Sh202.40 respectively.

However, the average prices of tomatoes and spinach dropped by 6.06% and 4.87% percent to Sh120.60 and Sh55.28 respectively.

Also, the price of a kilo maize flour reduced by 1.46% to sell at Sh53.36 compared to Sh54.15 in February.

The alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and narcotics increased by 0.14%. The transport index decreased by 0.10% due to the drop in the prices of petrol.

In March, the Energy Petroleum Regulatory Authority reduced the price of a litre of super petrol by Sh2 due to the decreased prices of the weighted average cost of imported refined petroleum products.

Fuel consumers are to expect a further drop in prices as global oil prices keep declining due to Russia- Saudi Arabia price war.

In arriving at the March 2020 inflation, the newly rebased Consumer Price Index (CPI) which was introduced by The Central Bank of Kenya was used.

"The CPI increased by 0.18 percent from 106.33 percent in February to 106.53 in March," KNBS said in a statement.

The CPI new basket has a total of 330 items, compared to the previous basket of 234 items.

The Central Bank also updated the Expenditure Groups based on the 2015/16 Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey.

Despite the drop in the March inflation, experts have predicted that the country may feel the real impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy in April.

Kenya like most African countries is battling coronavirus leading to tough economic times.

Kenya’s inflation rate for March drops to 6.06%

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