Month: June 2014

The Leading Economic Indicators for May 2014 highlights trends in Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, international trade, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, building and construction, tourism and transport.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased from 148.20 points in April 2014 to 149.70 points in May 2014. The overall rate of inflation increased from 6.41 per cent to 7.30 per cent during the same period. During the month of May, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against most major currencies except the Tanzanian shilling.

The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, increased to 8.82 per cent in May 2014 from 8.80 per cent recorded in April 2014. The inter-bank rates increased to 7.77 per cent during the period. The Nairobi Securities Exchange share index (NSE 20) declined by 1.35 per cent from 4,949 points in April 2014 to 4,882 points in May 2014, while the total number of shares traded went up from 728 million to 854 million shares during the same period.

The total value of NSE shares traded increased substantially from KSh 15.8 billion to KSh 23.0 billion over the same period. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation, increased from KSh 2,100.6 billion in April 2014 to KSh 2,129.9 billion in May 2014.

Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves contracted from KSh 754.8 billion in April 2014 to KSh 731.6 billion in May 2014 while Net Foreign Exchange Reserves declined to KSh 365.3 billion over the same period. Download  report...

The first quarter of 2014 experienced a relatively stable macroeconomic environment despite interest rates remaining comparatively high. Inflation rose moderately but was nevertheless contained at an average of 6.78 per cent during the first quarter of 2014 compared to 4.08 per cent in the same quarter of 2013. Over the same period, the Kenya Shilling registered slight fluctuations against the US dollar, the Euro and the Tanzania Shilling and appreciated strongly against the Japanese Yen and the South Africa Rand while it depreciated significantly against the Sterling Pound.

Against this background, Kenya’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is estimated to have expanded by 4.1 per cent in the first quarter of 2014 compared to 5.2 per cent during the same quarter of 2013. The growth can be attributed to accelerated expansion in activities of transport and communication, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, mining and quarrying and electricity industries. Agriculture and forestry, and fishing recorded slowed growths while activities of the hotels and restaurants contracted during the review period. The deceleration in growth of the hotel industry was largely due to insecurity concerns coupled with negative travel advisories by some key tourist source countries. Another factor that constrained economic growth during the quarter was the erratic weather pattern that resulted in depressed agricultural output. Quantities of exports of cut flowers and vegetables declined, while that of fruits rose significantly. Activities of other key crops, in particular cereals were negatively affected by the erratic rains during the quarter. Download full report…

Kenya Facts & Figures is your direct route to Kenya’s economy through reliable statistics. It enables you to have a complete picture of the Kenyan economy from a single source. This booklet provides, at a glance, a comprehensive picture of Kenya’s economy covering all sectors as well as reflecting the various trends over the last four years.

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Kenya National Bureau of Statistics hereby releases Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and inflation rates for June 2014. These numbers have been generated using data collected during the second and third weeks of the month under review. The prices were obtained from selected retail outlets in 25 data collection zones located in 13 urban centers.

The CPI increased by 0.14 per cent from 149.70 in May 2014 to 149.91 in June 2014. The overall inflation rate stood at 7.39 per cent in June 2014 up from 7.30 per cent in May 2014.

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