•There was general drop in the food and non- alcoholic drink index which dropped by 1.6 per cent.
•CBK projected Kenya's annual inflation at 5.8 per cent in February.
Kenya’s inflation rose slightly to 5.7 per cent in June from 5.49 per cent in May largely on increased fuel prices that stirred hike in price of basic food stuffs.
Households bought a kilo of loose maize grains at Sh48.70 in June compared to Sh48.45, a kilo of beans at Sh120.26 up from Sh118.72, sifted maize flour at Sh177.83 up from Sh171.66 while a kilo of sugar rose from Sh108.87 to Sh109.12.
However, there was a general drop in the food and non- alcoholic drink index which dropped by 1.6 per cent, a decline of 0.37 per cent compared to May.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), this was due to favourable weather conditions which led to increased food production and in turn resulted in a drop especially in vegetable prices.
A kilo of spinach, sukuma wiki (kale) and tomatoes recorded a decrease of 2.42, 6.87 and 0.36 per cent respectively in June compared with the previous month.
According to the statistician, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) dropped marginally to Sh204.34 from Sh205.77, a 0.69 per cent drop.
The cost of non-food items like housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel products increased by 0.05 per cent in June compared to May.
Households however enjoyed affordable power in June compared to May. The cost 50KWh and 200 Kwh dropped by 0.91 and 0.64 per cent respectively.
The transport index also increased by 0.26 per cent due to an increase in pump prices.
Fuel prices which rose in latest monthly price list by the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) are expected to rise further on US recent sanctions on Iran.
Price of a litre of super petrol went up by Sh3.07 and that of diesel by Sh0.39 in recent review by EPRA. Kerosene prices however dropped by Sh0.34 per litre.
The inflation rate of 5.7 is within the annual margins estimated by the Central Bank of Kenya in its February survey.
According the the Market Perception survey, the banking regulator said it expects inflation to average at 5.8 per cent while non-banking private sector firms said inflation would be at about 5.7 per cent this year.
“The anticipation of favourable weather conditions and low food prices, the reduced cost of electricity, the low level of international oil prices and a stable shilling are expected to support low inflation in the next 12 months,” said CBK.
The projected annual inflation is also within government’s margin of 2.5-7.5 per cent.
Inflation rate in Kenya averaged 9.59 per cent from 2005 until 2019, reaching an all-time high of 31.50 per cent in May of 2008 and a record low of 3.18 per cent in October of 2010.