The Leading Economic Indicators for the month of February 2015 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 153.43 points in January 2014 to 154.14 points in February 2015. The overall rate of inflation expanded from 5.53 per cent to 5.61 per cent during the same period. In February 2015, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against the US dollar while appreciating against the other major currencies.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, rmaintained a value of 8.59 per cent in February 2015. The inter-bank rates fell to 6.91 per cent during the period. The Nairobi Securities Exchange 20 share index increased from 5,212 points in January 2014 to 5,491 points in February 2015, while the total number of shares traded increased from 414 million to 593 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded expanded from KSh 9.72 billion to KSh 16.11 billion over the same period. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,351.02 billion in January 2015 to KSh 2,439.98 billion in February 2015. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 890.55 billion in January 2015 to KSh 910.92 billion in February 2015. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves went up from KSh 474.00 billion to KSh 488.50 billion over the same period. Download Leading Economic Indicators February 2015…