Cost of living eases slightly in January despite high food prices

NAIROBI, Kenya Jan 31-The cost of living eased slightly in January on low housing costs attributed to the slashing of electricity prices and reduced transport costs.

Even so, the cost of common food items remained high over the month.

Monthly inflation data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the overall rate of inflation in January was 5.39 per cent down from 5.73 per cent recorded in December 2021.

In the latest figures, the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which measures the percentage change in the price of a basket of goods and services consumed by households, increased by 0.31 per cent from an index of 118.274 in December 2021 to 118.642 in January.

“This was mainly due to an increase in prices of commodities under; food and non-alcoholic beverages (8.89 per cent); transport (6.84 per cent); and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (5.11 per cent) between January 2021 and January 2022,” said KNBS in a statement.

The month-to-month Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index increased by 1.07 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022.

This was mainly attributed to increase in prices of some food items, which outweighed the decrease in prices of others.

Prices of maize flour-sifted, kale-sukuma wiki, spinach and Irish potatoes increased by 6.41, 5.69, 5.66 and 3.87 in January 2022, respectively.

A kilo of maize flour-sifted, commonly consumed by households, retailed at Sh126.31 in January up from Sh118.71 last month.

During the same period, prices of mangoes, tomatoes and carrots decreased by 3.98, 0.65 and 0.07 per cent, respectively.

A kilo of mangoes retailed at Sh109.58, while a kilo of tomatoes was Sh102.72.

“Prices of food items in January 2022 were relatively high compared with prices of food items recorded in January 2021,” read the KNBS statement.

The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ index, decreased by 0.75 per cent between December 2021 and January 2022.

This was mainly attributed to decrease in prices of electricity.

During the same period, Transport Index decreased by 0.11 per cent per cent as there was no change in prices of petrol and diesel.