Nairobi — Prices of sugar, wheat flour, mangoes, tomatoes, petrol and electricity declined in February, helping ease inflation to 4.3 percent from 4.4 percent in January, according to new data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
The KNBS Consumer Price Index and Inflation Report shows that the price of a one-kilogramme packet of sugar dropped by 4.4 percent to Sh166.45 in February from Sh174.17 in January.
A two-kilogramme packet of white wheat flour fell by nearly one percent to Sh170.75 from Sh172.15 over the same period.
The price of one kilogramme of mangoes declined by 3.2 percent to Sh144.37, while the cost of 200 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity fell by 2.7 percent to Sh5,564.78. The price of 50 kWh also decreased by 2.9 percent to Sh1,265.96.
Other items that recorded price declines include tomatoes (down 0.1 percent), cooking gas/LPG (down 0.4 percent), diesel (down 2.3 percent) and kerosene (down 0.6 percent).
The drop in prices of these key commodities contributed to the slight easing of inflation in February.
However, some food items recorded increases. A kilogramme of Irish potatoes rose by four percent to Sh102.16, cabbages increased by four percent to Sh74.33, while kale (sukuma wiki) went up by 2.4 percent to Sh104.90.
