The Leading Economic Indicators 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 182.98 points in March 2017 to 186.24 points in April 2017. The overall rate of inflation rose from 10.28 per cent to 11.48 per cent during the same period. In March 2017, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against the major trading currencies except for the South African Rand and the Ugandan shilling.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, increased from 8.68 per cent in March 2017 to 8.77 per cent in April 2017 while the inter-bank rate rose from 4.46 in March 2017 to 5.31 per cent in April 2017.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index increased from 3,112 points in March 2017 to 3,158 points in April 2017, while the total number of shares traded decreased from 636 million shares to 446 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded decreased from KSh 12.46 billion in March 2017 to KSh 11.41 billion in April 2017.
Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation, expanded from KSh 2,767.89 billion in February 2017 to KSh 2,832.73 billion in March 2017. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves expanded from KSh 1,087.83 billion in March 2017 to KSh 1,158.09 billion in April 2017. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 604.95 billion in March 2017 to KSh 678.95 billion in April 2017.
| Leading Economic Indicators March 2017 | 1 MB |