Kenya National Bureau of Statistics hereby releases the Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and Inflation Rates pertaining to the month of April 2010 and with base period as February 2009. The numbers have been generated through data collected within the second and third weeks of the month under review from selected retail outlets in 25 zones countrywide.
As indicated in Tables 1 and 3 below, the CPI increased by 0.6 per cent from 105.0 points in March 2010 to 105.6 points in April 2010. However, the month-on-month overall inflation rate declined from 4.0 per cent in March 2010 to 3.7 per cent in April 2010.
Table 1: One Month and Twelve Months’ Changes in the Price Indices
Broad Commodity Group |
New CPI Weight |
% Change on
Previous Month (April 2010 / March 2010) |
% Change on
Previous Year
(April 2010/ April 2009) |
Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages |
36.04 |
1.2 |
3.8 |
Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco & Narcotics |
2.06 |
-0.4 |
8.0 |
Clothing & Footwear |
7.43 |
0.1 |
3.3 |
Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels |
18.30 |
0.0 |
4.2 |
Furnishings, Household Equipment and Routine Household Maintenance |
6.16 |
0.5 |
2.9 |
Health |
3.13 |
0.8 |
4.0 |
Transport |
8.66 |
0.4 |
4.4 |
Communication |
3.82 |
0.0 |
0.1 |
Recreation & Culture |
2.25 |
0.0 |
0.6 |
Education |
3.14 |
0.1 |
0.8 |
Restaurant & Hotels |
4.48 |
0.4 |
3.6 |
Miscellaneous Goods & Services |
4.52 |
0.0 |
2.4 |
Total |
100.00 |
0.6 |
3.7 |
Although most of the Commodity Indices went up between the two consecutive months of March and April 2010, the falling trend in inflation rate that has been observed over the last few months was maintained. The aggregate price level was generally higher in April last year compared to April this year as can be seen from Table 2 on some selected items.
Table2: Percentage change in the Prices of some selected Items
S No. |
Commodity |
Units |
% Weight |
April 2009 Av. price |
April 2010 Av. price |
% change |
1 |
Potatoes |
1 Kg |
1.06 |
47.4 |
34.7 |
-26.85 |
2 |
Maize Flour |
2 Kg |
1.59 |
89.9 |
77.3 |
-13.99 |
3 |
Milk |
1 Lt |
1.91 |
39.3 |
36.6 |
-6.81 |
4 |
Sukuma Wiki |
1 Kg |
1.03 |
34 |
30.2 |
-11.13 |
5 |
Wheat Flour |
2 Kg |
0.82 |
108.1 |
93.4 |
-13.54 |
6 |
Cabbages |
1 Kg |
0.45 |
33.4 |
26.6 |
-20.3 |
7 |
Electricity |
200 units |
2.16 |
2576 |
3100 |
20.34 |
8 |
Petrol |
1 lit |
1.38 |
76.6 |
86.8 |
13.34 |
9 |
Diesel |
1 lit |
0.17 |
69.3 |
76 |
9.76 |
Food and non-alcoholic drinks’ index increased by 1.2 per cent between the months of March and April 2010 on account of rises in the prices of tomatoes, onions and beef among other food items. On average, a kilogram of tomatoes for instance, was retailing at a price of Ksh. 83.8 in April 2010 compared to Ksh.64.3 in March 2010 a rise of 30.3 per cent. However the average prices of milk, sukuma wiki and potatoes recorded falls of 2.42, 3.39 and 0.69 per cent respectively, between the two months.
The index for Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other Fuels remained almost constant during the month of April as a result of an almost balancing of rises and falls in prices. For example, whereas the cost of electricity went down, the price of charcoal and petrol recorded increases of 7.14 and 1.39 per cent respectively, between the months of March and April 2010.
Table 3: Overall Geometric CPI and Inflation
February 2009=100
Month |
Geometric Overall CPI |
Geometric Overall Inflation |
May-2009 |
101.8 |
|
June-2009 |
102.1 |
|
July-2009 |
102.3 |
|
August-2009 |
102.9 |
|
September-2009 |
103.4 |
|
October-2009 |
103.7 |
|
November-2009 |
103.9 |
|
December-2009 |
104.7 |
|
January-2010 |
104.9 |
|
February-2010 |
105.2 |
5.2 |
March-2010 |
105.0 |
4.0 |
April-2009 |
105.6 |
3.7 |
|