The Leading Economic Indicators for the month of October 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) declined from 152.24 points in September 2014 to 151.92 points in October 2014. The overall rate of inflation fell from 6.60 per cent to 6.43 per cent during the same period. In October, the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against all the major currencies except the US dollar.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, rose to 8.67 per cent in October 2014 from 8.35 per cent in September 2014. The inter-bank rates dropped to 6.76 per cent during the period. The Nairobi Securities Exchange 20 share index fell from 5,256 points in September 2014 to 5,195 points in October 2014, while the total number of shares traded decreased from 767 million to 506 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded increased from KSh 19.24 billion to KSh 19.29 billion over the same period. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,251.76 billion in September 2014 to KSh 2,260.02 billion in October 2014. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves fell from KSh 871.7 billion in August 2014 to KSh 845.5 billion in September 2014. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves decreased from KSh 483.2 to Ksh 448.4 billion over the same period. Download Leading Economic Indicator October 2014