The Leading Economic Indicators for July 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) increased from 149.91 points in June 2014 to 150.60 points in July 2014. The overall rate of inflation rose from 7.39 per cent to 7.67 per cent during the same period. In the month of July, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against major currencies except the Euro and the Tanzanian Shilling.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, dropped to 9.78 per cent in July 2014 from 9.81 per cent in June 2014. The inter-bank rates increased to 7.98 per cent during the period. The Nairobi Securities Exchange 20 share index rose from 4,885 points in June 2014 to 4,906 points in July 2014, while the total number of shares traded decreased from 731 million to 625 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded decreased substantially from KSh 18.2 billion to KSh 15.0 billion over the same period. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,129.9 billion in May 2014 to KSh 2,329.0 billion in June 2014. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves expanded from KSh 731.6 billion in May 2014 to KSh 922.1 billion in June 2014 while Net Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from Ksh 365.3 to Ksh 531.4 billion over the same period. Download full report…