Month: August 2020

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics hereby releases the monthly Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and rates of inflation, for August, 2020. The overall year on year inflation in August 2020 stood at 4.36 per cent. The CPI increased by 0.20 per cent from 108.35 in July 2020 to 108.57 in August 2020.

These numbers were generated from a survey of retail prices that targeted a basket of household consumption goods and services. The survey was conducted during the second and third weeks of the month, with prices being obtained from selected retail outlets located in 50 data collection zones, 14 of which are in Nairobi and 36 in other urban areas.

CONSUMER PRICE INDICES AND INFLATION RATES FOR AUGUST 2020

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) is conducting a Real Estate Survey (RES) to collect data that will be used to better measure the performance of the real estate sector. The baseline survey will run between July and September 2020, while regular data collection will be conducted every quarter thereafter. The survey is targeting establishments that engage in activities of selling and letting/leasing of own property or on a fee/commission basis, and financial institutions. These include but not limited to real estate agent and affiliate companies. The survey will cover residential, commercial and land properties in urban and peri-urban areas across the country.

The broad objective of the survey is to construct real estate price indices for monitoring the performance of the sector. Specific objectives of the survey are:

• Collect data and generate statistics on Kenya’s property market to address the existing data gaps
• Meet international, regional and domestic requirements for real estate statistics
• Update the KNBS business register

Real estate statistics that are accurate and reliable are important for various reasons. The International Monetary Fund Financial Soundness Indicators (FSIs) Guide (IMF, 2006) identifies real estate markets as an important source of indicators for both financial and non-financial sectors. They are used to monitor financial stability, inform economic policy decision making, and in the compilation of national accounts statistics. In households, residential property purchases and rent constitute a high proportion of urban and peri-urban household expenditures. The statistics generated can be used to inform decision making processes for households.

It has long been recognised that women’s empowerment is a precondition for sustained economic development and poverty reduction; and that it is inexorably linked to social transformation. Empowerment of women and girls has therefore been incorporated in numerous policy and legal instruments like the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Maputo Protocol amongst others. In addition to signing and ratifying these documents, the Government of Kenya mainstreamed women’s empowerment through several articles in its 2010 Constitution. The topic holds an important place in the country’s key development policy and strategy documents.

Women’s Empowerment in Kenya

This report measured multidimensional poverty among children, youths, adult women and men, and the elderly in Kenya; studied the relationship between monetary and multidimensional poverty; and identified factors associated with poverty among children, youths and women. The report also identities the most vulnerable population groups that are both multidimensional and monetary poor, and sheds light into
geographical inequalities with realisation of rights and fulfillment of basic needs. In addition to addressing the existing data gaps on well-being in Kenya, the findings of the report are readily usable for monitoring Kenya’s progress in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) targets 1.1 and 1.2, SDG 5 targets and for continuous monitoring of the Vision 2030 and the “Big Four” Agenda among other programmes. The findings of the report are also intended to inform gender-sensitive policies and programmes aimed at enhancing well-being and gender equality at the national and county level.

Comprehensive Poverty Report