Kenya’s July inflation drops to  7.47pc as food prices ease

Kenya’s month of July inflation dropped to 7.47 percent from 9.21 percent in June  contrary to what analysts had earlier projected.

“The drop was caused by significant falls in the prices of several food items arising out of good weather conditions in some parts of the country in the recent past as well as government interventions aimed at bringing down the cost of staple food items,” the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

“As a result, the year on year food inflation dropped from 15.81 per cent in June 2017 to 12.19 per cent in July 2017. “

The drop breached the government’s preferred for the first time since February this year. This was earlier than expected by the Central Bank of Kenya which had projected such to happen in September.

According to KNBS, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels’ index, decreased by 0.08 per cent due to decline in the cost of electricity, kerosene and cooking gas. The prices of the other non-food items remained relatively stable during the review period.

The Transport Index dropped by 0.29 per cent in July 2017 mainly on account of decrease in pump prices of petrol and diesel.