The Leading Economic Indicators for the month of May 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 158.70 points in April 2015 to 159.98 points in May 2015. The overall rate of inflation contracted from 7.08 per cent to 6.87 per cent during the same period. In May 2015, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against all the major currencies except for the Tanzanian shilling.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, declined to 8.26 per cent in May 2015. The inter-bank rates rose to 11.09 per cent during the period.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange 20 share index decreased from 5,091 points in April 2015 to 4,788 points in May 2015, while the total number of shares traded increased from 488 million to 684 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded expanded from KSh 14.64 billion in April 2015 to KSh 21.33 billion in May 2015. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,464.48 billion in April 2015 to KSh 2,501.59 billion in May 2015. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 906.04 billion in March 2015 to KSh 923.84 billion in April 2015. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves expanded from KSh 463.84 billion to KSh 468.07 billion over the same period. Download Leading Economic Indicators May 2015