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 164.72 points in December 2015 to 165.37 points in January 2016. The overall rate of inflation declined from 8.01 per cent to 7.78 per cent during the same period. In January, 2016 the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against major currencies except the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, declined from 12.34 per cent in November 2015 to 9.69 per cent in December 2015. However, the inter-bank rate fell to 5.31 in December 2015 from 8.85 per cent in November 2015.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index contracted from 4,040 points in December 2015 to 3,773 points in January 2016, while the total number of shares traded decreased from 474 million to 422 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded dropped from KSh 15.11 billion in December 2015 to KSh 13.00 billion in January 2016.
Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation rose from KSh 2,566.95 billion in October 2015 to KSh 2,593.32 billion in November 2015.
Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 958.58 billion in November 2015 to KSh 999.00 billion in December 2015. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 448.00 billion in November 2015 to KSh 493.53 billion in December 2015. Download Leading Economic Indicator January 2016