Cooking Gas Prices Hit Record High As Hope For What Ruto Promised Fades

President William Ruto promised that Kenyans would “soon” start buying cooking gas at 300 shillings. He later changed and said that the price was to be at 500 shillings and later said he meant the cylinder and not the gas inside the cylinder.

As the conflicting promise continues to fade, stats show that in March 2024, Kenyans paid more for cooking gas as the prices hit a record high in many years.

Kenyans paid 3,231.84 shillings for the 13-kilogram cylinder in March, defying State-backed efforts to lower the cost of the fuel, including scrapping the eight percent value-added tax.

According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the average prices of cooking gas continued on an upward trend during the month after they rose 1.4 percent from the 3,187.10 shillings recorded in February, which translated into a three percent year-on-year jump.

The data shows that the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels Index increased by 0.2 percent between February 2024 and March 2024 mainly due increase in prices of gas/LPG by 1.4 percent.

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At the same time, KNBS says during the same review period the prices of kerosene went down by 2.3 percent. In addition, prices of 200 kWh and 50 kWh of electricity dropped by 0.3 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, during the period.

The Transport Index decreased by 0.6 percent between February 2024 and March 2024 although most PSVs did not ease the fair for the millions of Kenyans. This was attributable to a drop in prices of petrol and diesel by 3.5 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.

The Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index rose by 0.5 percent between February 2024 and March 2024. National average prices for selected items.

Prices of maize flour loose, maize flour-sifted, sugar, and fortified maize flour dropped by 9.6. 5.8, 5.3, and 5.1 percent, respectively between February 2024 and March 2024. During the same period, however, prices of onions- leeks, bulbs, mangoes, and potatoes (Irish) increased by 11.1, 8.0, and 7.7 percent, respectively.

With the above in play, the overall year-on-year inflation rate as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was 5.7 percent, in March 2024. This means that in March 2024, the general price level was 5.7 percent higher than that of March 2023.

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