Kenyan Families Feel the Pinch As Cost Of Living Rises

Another month, another uptick at the till: Kenya’s inflation rate rose to 6.6 percent in August, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, up from 6.5 percent in July.

That’s the second month in a row prices have moved higher, and for most households, the reasons won’t come as a surprise: food and transport are once again doing the damage.

The KNBS data puts overall prices 6.6 percent above where they stood in August last year. Food and non-alcoholic drinks alone are up 9.0 percent annually, and that category carries enough weight in the inflation basket to drag the whole figure upward almost on its own.

Transport had the sharper move this time round, climbing 15.7 percent year-on-year. Housing costs, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels rose a comparatively modest 3.6 percent. But add these three together, and you’re looking at more than 57 percent of what actually goes into calculating the CPI, so when they move, everyone feels it.

A 2kg bag of sifted maize flour fell from Sh157.15 to Sh152.89 between July and August, a drop of 2.7 percent. Tomatoes came down 2.2 percent. Sugar and cooking oil each slipped slightly too, 0.6 percent and 0.4 percent respectively.

That’s about where the good news ends, though. Sukuma wiki rose 4.3 percent just in the space of a month. Irish potatoes were up 4.1 percent, mangoes 3.6 percent, and beef with bones 1.2 percent.

Compare that with a year ago, and the picture is worse still. Irish potatoes now cost 32.7 percent more than in August 2025. Sukuma wiki, arguably Kenya’s most eaten vegetable, is up 29.8 percent over the same period. Cabbages have gone up 21.7 percent, oranges 18.8 percent, and beef with bones 12.1 percent.

Here’s the thing about a headline inflation number like 6.6 percent: it’s an average across everything, from rent to electronics to school fees. But for a family that spends most of its income getting to work and putting dinner on the table, that average doesn’t mean much.

Their actual cost of living has likely gone up by more, because food and transport make up so much of what they spend.

This is the fifth month running that inflation has sat above 5 per cent. It hasn’t quite reached the 6.7 per cent high recorded back in May, the worst reading since January 2024, but it’s clearly not easing off either.

Every shilling saved matters when budgets are tight, but with vegetables, potatoes, fruit and meat all pulling in the opposite direction, most families aren’t coming out ahead. Food inflation running at 9.0 percent, well above the 6.6 percent headline figure, says it plainly enough: feeding a household remains the hardest part of the monthly budget for a lot of Kenyans right now.

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