Kenyan Inflation Cools to Four-Year Low on Transport Costs
Kenyan annual inflation eased to a four-year low in July, helped by a strong shilling that’s helped cool transport prices.
Consumer prices rose 4.3% in July from 4.6% the month before, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said Wednesday in a statement emailed from the capital, Nairobi.
The median estimate of three economists in a Bloomberg survey was 4.7%. Prices fell 0.2% in the month.
The data may persuade monetary policymakers to cut interest rates when they meet on Aug. 6. They have lifted the key interest rate by 600 basis points to 13% since May 2022 to bring inflation to the 5% midpoint of the central bank’s target range.
Other insights:
- Prices of food and non-alcoholic drinks – which makes up a third of the inflation basket – rose an annual 5.6% in July, the same as the prior month.
- Surplus stocks of corn, the nation’s staple could help contain food inflation. The nation has about 31 million 50-kilogram bags of corn – enough to feed it until the next main harvest in November, according to agriculture principal secretary, Paul Ronoh.
- A 21% appreciation in the shilling has helped temper inflation.
- Transport costs rose 4% in July from 7.7% a month earlier after gasoline prices were cut 0.53% in the mid-month review.
Source: bloomberg
Via: norvanreports
