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) expanded from 165.92 points in March 2015 to 167.07 points in April 2016. The overall rate of inflation contracted from 6.45 per cent to 5.27 per cent during the same period. In April, 2016 the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the Sterling pound, the Euro and the Uganda shilling while apppreciating against the US Dollar and the Tanzania shilling.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, rose from 8.72 per cent in March 2016 to 8.92 per cent in April 2016. However, the inter-bank rate fell to 3.92 in April 2016 from 4.04 per cent in March 2016.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index expanded from 3,982 points in March 2016 to 4,009 points in April 2016, while the total number of shares traded decreased from 536 million 426 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded dropped from KSh 13.45 billion in March 2016 to KSh 10.07 billion in April 2016.
Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation rose from KSh 2,662.63 billion in March 2016 to KSh 2,691.69 billion in April 2016.
Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 991.42 billion in March 2016 to KSh 1,003.36 billion in April 2016. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves expanded from KSh 473.46 billion in March 2016 to KSh 492.02 billion in April 2016. Download Leading Economic Indicators April 2016