Kenyans dug deeper into their pockets to meet the cost of living in January as year-on-year inflation rose to 5.69 per cent.
Inflation, a measure of the rate of rising prices of goods and services in an economy, was recorded at a lower rate of 5.62 per cent in December.
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 0.63 per cent from 111.86 in December to 112.57.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS), the higher cost of living was driven by month-on-month food and non-alcoholic drinks index, which increased by 1.26 per cent between December and January.
The year-on year-food inflation rose by 7.36 per cent between January 2020 and this month.
Prices of cooking oil(salad) , whiet bread and cabbages went up by 10.40, 6.55 and 3.39 per cent, respectively.
This month, households bought a 400 grammes bread at an average Sh51.52 up from Sh48.35 last month.
A litre of cooking oil(salad) went for Sh227.66 about Sh21 more than the Sh206.22 it sold at in December.
Fortified maize flour consumed my most households, for the common Ugali meal, equally went up to sale at Sh119.49 a kilo, on average, up from Sh116.80 in December.
The price of a kilo of irish potatoes also increased to Sh68.44 a kilo from Sh67.01 in December.
During the month, transport costs went up with its index increasing by 1.07 per cent over the same period mainly due to a rise of 4.94 per cent and 0.15 per cent in the retail prices of diesel and petrol, repetitively, KNBS said on Friday.
"The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuel index increased by 0.31 per cent during the reference period. This was mainly attributed to increases of 4.22 per cent and 3.18 per cent, in the cost of kerosene and electricity , respectively," KNBS director general Macdonald Obudho said.
The cost of rent also rose with an average monthly rent captured at Sh3,639.22 in the lower segment of the market.
Households paid an average Sh4,812.64 to get houses powered in the 200kwh electricity package.
The Central Bank of Kenya has however noted that inflation remains well anchored within the government targets, where the ceiling is set of 7.5 per cent.
