The Leading Economic Indicators for August 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) rose from 150.60 points in July 2014 to 152.02 points in August 2014. The overall rate of inflation increased from 7.67 per cent to 8.36 per cent during the same period. In the month of August, the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the Sterling pound, the Euro, the Japanese Yen, the Ugandan and Tanzanian shilling. In contrast, the Shilling depreciated against the US Dollar and the South African Rand.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, fell to 8.29 per cent in August 2014 from 9.78 per cent in July 2014. The inter-bank rates increased to 11.72 per cent during the period. The Nairobi Securities Exchange 20 share index rose from 4,906 points in July 2014 to 5,139 points in August 2014, while the total number of shares traded increased from 625 million to 629 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded increased from KSh 15.04 billion to KSh 15.51 billion over the same period. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,190.08 billion in July 2014 to KSh 2,253.23 billion in August 2014. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves reduced from KSh 924.1 billion in June 2014 to KSh 869.2 billion in July 2014. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves decreased from Ksh 531.3 to Ksh 490.9 billion over the same period. Download