Households Struggle to Put Food On The Table As Commodity Prices Continue Rising

Many Kenyans are still struggling to put food on the table as their monthly budget continues to narrow every day due to the increased commodity prices.

It’s now a norm that each day you go to your favorite shop, restaurant, or supermarket; the price is up by a certain amount.

You don’t need to ask why because you already know the cost of commodities is on a rising spree, and every business is trying to adjust to avoid making losses.

A 500 shillings in January 2022 was a lunch budget for one week; Of course, some will argue it’s a small amount. For between 70 – 100 shillings only, I was assured of eating well each day at Ngara market in Nairobi.

It will take the Lord’s Grace for 500 shillings to even last for three days for the same amount of food in Ngara in April 2022. All the prices

You either have to complain and adjust your pocket or resort to other alternatives such as carrying your packed lunch to work or, better still, forego lunch.

But even the other alternative of carrying packed lunch is still expensive because you have to buy the same commodities whose prices are up beyond measure.

A comparison of commodity prices in January 2022 shows how rapidly the prices have increased in just three months.

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The table below shows the prices of commodities in January 2022 as compared to the current prices in Kenya.

In the short term, Kenyans were hoping that the government would liberate them from this economic turmoil by lowering the VAT on regular household goods

However, the expectations have been hit hard as the government plans to even add more VAT on several other goods across the market.

According to the World Bank projections in February, Kenya’s economy will grow by 5 percent in 2022. Beyond these headline figures, Kenyans want to feel the growth on a personal level. Kenyans want a break from the chocking food prices.