The Central
Bureau of Statistics is pleased to release the Consumer Price
Indices (CPI) and inflation rates for the month of February
2006, for your information and use. This data is generated through
monthly data collection from retail outlets in 13 urban centres
in Kenya. The data is perceived to be representative of the
spending behaviour of Kenyan urban households. The price data
is collected in the second and third week of the month of review
in the selected retail outlets. This is in order to maintain
consistency in price variations.
Consumer
Price Index (CPI) increased by 4.0 per cent from 201.3 points
in January 2006 to 209.3 points in February 2006. Month-on-month
overall inflation rate increased from 15.4 per cent in January
2006 to 18.9 per cent in February 2006. On the other hand, month-on-month
underlying inflation rate which excludes food items from the
CPI basket declined marginally from 5.5 per cent to 5.4 per
cent.
Table
1 shows percentage changes in indices of broad categories of items
in the month of February 2006 compared toJanuary 2006 (previous
month).
|
Table 1: One Month Change in Prices |
Broad Item Group |
% Change on Previous month |
Food and Non-Alcoholic Drink |
6.5 |
Alcohol & Tobacco |
0.5 |
Clothing & Footwear |
0.0 |
Housing Costs |
0.2 |
Fuel & Power |
0.4 |
Household Goods & Services |
0.1 |
Medical Goods and Services |
1.0 |
Transport & Communication |
-0.7 |
Recreation & Education |
0.6 |
Personal Goods |
0.1 |
Food
and non-alcoholic drink index increased by 6.5 per cent in February
2006 compared to January 2006. This was mainly attributed to rise
in prices of cabbages, Kale (Sukuma wiki), dry beans, English
potatoes and green grams. On average, a kilogramme of cabbages
was retailing at Kshs 32.33 in February 2006 compared to Kshs
25.57 in January 2006 an increase of 26.4 per cent.
Table
2 shows some selected food items which had a substantial price
rise between January 2006 and February 2006.
| Commodity |
Unit
|
January
2006 Average Price |
February
2006 Average Price |
Percentage
Change |
| Kale
(Sukuma Wiki) |
1
Kg |
38.83 |
44.32 |
14.1 |
| Cabbages |
1
Kg |
25.57 |
32.33 |
26.4 |
| English Potatoes
|
1
Kg |
27.13 |
30.51 |
12.5 |
| Green
gramss |
1
Kg |
71.62 |
81.56 |
13.9 |
The
retail prices of petrol and diesel were lower in February 2006
compared to January 2006 and this caused Transport and Communications
index to decline by 0.7 per cent.
Table
3 shows percentage changes in indices of broad categories of items
in the month of February 2006 compared to last year (February
2005)..
|
Table
3: One Year Change in Price Indices |
Broad Item Group |
% Change on Previous month |
Food and Non-Alcoholic Drink |
28.6 |
Alcohol & Tobacco |
9.6 |
Clothing & Footwear |
2.0 |
Housing Costs |
3.9 |
Fuel & Power |
13.2 |
Household Goods & Services |
3.7 |
Medical Goods and Services |
5.2 |
Transport & Communication |
6.4 |
Recreation & Education |
3.6 |
Personal Goods |
3.6 |
Average All Groups |
18.9 |
Over
the last twelve months, Food and Non-alcoholic drinks index had
the highest increase of 28.6 per cent
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics |