The Leading Economic Indicators for the month of September 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 160.90 points in August 2015 to 161.33 points in September 2015. The overall rate of inflation increased from 5.84 per cent to 5.97 per cent during the same period. In September 2015, the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the South African Rand and the Tanzanian shilling while depreciating against the other currencies.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, increased from 11.54 per cent in August 2015 to 14.00 per cent in September 2015. Similarly, the inter-bank rates rose to 21.24 per cent in September 2015.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index contracted slightly from 4,176 points in August 2015 to 4,173 points in September 2015, while the total number of shares traded decreased substantially from 734 million to 434 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded contracted from KSh 20.79 billion in August 2015 to KSh 14.38 billion in September 2015.
Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation contracted from KSh 2,570.45 billion in August 2015 to KSh 2,568.66 billion in September 2015. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves decreased from KSh 948.94 billion in August 2015 to KSh 916.03 billion in September 2015. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves declined from KSh 406.60 billion to KSh 391.39 billion over the same period.Download Leading Economic Indicators September 2015