Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released the inflation rate for the month of October indicating that the inflation rate had dropped to 5.72 percent from 7.06 percent recorded in the month of September.
The bureau attributed the drop in inflation to a drop in food prices. Some quarters, however, have come out to say that numbers don’t just add up. This article puts into perspective various food prices that KNBS used to arrive at the conclusion that food prices contributed to the drop in inflation.
Cabbages retailed at an average of 46.58 shillings per kilogram in September but dropped to 38.57 shillings in October with this being an equivalent of 13.21 percent drop. Sugar, one of the most basic commodity dropped slightly from 142.42 shillings per kilogram in September to 140.03 shillings per kilogram in October (1.90 percent drop.)
What has brought controversy, however, is the price of maize and beans. According to the bureau, the price of dry maize dropped from 57.84 shillings per kilogram in September to 56.80 shillings per kilogram. This seems to be unrealistic because, during the same month, the government announced that it would start buying maize from farmers at the price of 3,200 shillings per 90-kilogram. The announcement subsequently pushed the prices of maize in different parts of the country. In Bungoma, for instance, the price of maize increased by over 30 percent in a span of one month after the announcement.
The bureau also says that the price of beans increased slightly by 0.12 percent, that is, from 115.59 shillings per kilogram in September to 115.75 shillings in October. The fact that the bureau quotes the price per kilogram is unrealistic. The retail price of beans across the country is now between 180 to 200 shillings putting the price per kilogram to between 90 and 100 shillings.
See the image that follows from Kenya National Bureau of Statistics:
