The Central Bureau of Statistics is pleased to release the Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and inflation rates for the month of April 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) declined by 1.0 per cent from 212.8 points in March 2006 to 210.7 points in April 2006. Month-on-month overall inflation rate decreased from 19.1 per cent in March 2006 to 14.9 per cent in April 2006. On the other hand, month-on-month underlying inflation rate which excludes food items from the CPI basket also declined from 5.3 per cent to 5.0 per cent.
Table 1 shows percentage changes in indices of broad categories of items in the month of April 2006 compared to March 2006 (previous month).
|
Table 1: One Month Change in Prices |
Broad Item Group |
% Change on Previous month |
Food and Non-Alcoholic Drink |
-1.9 |
Alcohol & Tobacco |
0.1 |
Clothing & Footwear |
0.2 |
Housing Costs |
0.8 |
Fuel & Power |
1.3 |
Household Goods & Services |
0.1 |
Medical Goods and Services |
0.0 |
Transport & Communication |
1.0 |
Recreation & Education |
0.0 |
Personal Goods |
0.3 |
Food and non-alcoholic drink index increased by 2.6 per cent in March 2006 compared to February 2006. This was mainly attributed to rise in prices of English potatoes, dry beans, tomatoes, meat, onions, sugar and carrots. On average, a kilogramme of green grammes was retailing at Kshs 94.60 in March 2006 compared to Kshs 81.60 in February 2006 an increase of 16 per cent. During the same period, a kilogramme of English potatoes rose from Kshs 30.20 to Kshs 33.40.
Table
2 shows some selected food items which had a substantial price
rise between February 2006 and March 2006.
| Commodity |
Unit
|
February
2006 Average Price |
March
2006 Average Price |
Percentage
Change |
| Green gramss |
1 Kg |
81.60 |
94.60 |
16 |
| English Potatoes |
1 Kg |
30.20 |
33.40 |
10.5 |
| Carrots |
1 Kg |
32.30 |
35.40 |
9.8 |
| Dry Beans |
1 Kg |
47.20 |
51.70 |
9.5 |
Table
3 shows percentage changes in indices of broad categories of items
in the month of March 2006 compared to last year (March
2005)..
|
Table
3: One Year Change in Price Indices |
Broad Item Group |
% Change on Previous month |
Food and Non-Alcoholic Drink |
29.0 |
Alcohol & Tobacco |
10.2 |
Clothing & Footwear |
2.0 |
Housing Costs |
3.8 |
Fuel & Power |
12.6 |
Household Goods & Services |
3.4 |
Medical Goods and Services |
5.2 |
Transport & Communication |
6.3 |
Recreation & Education |
3.0 |
Personal Goods |
3.0 |
Average All Groups |
19.1 |
Over the last twelve months, Food and Non-alcoholic drinks index had the highest increase of 29.0 per cent. The prices of vegetables such as cabbages and kales were high in March 2006 compared with March 2005. On average, a kilogramme of kale was selling at Kshs 41.20 in March 2006 compared with Kshs 24.30 in March 2005 an increase of 69.2 per cent
.
Source: Kenya National Bureau of Statistics |