A man casts his ballot on August 8/FILE
NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 31 – Inflation in August rose to 8.04 per cent crossing the governments’ target of 7.5 per cent compared to July’s 7.47 per cent due to the rise in the cost of food items.
The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics attributes the rise in the cost of food items to depressed supply, especially during the General Election period.
The food and non-alcoholic index increased by 1.04 per cent between July and August 2017 while year-on-year food inflation rose to 13.5 per cent in August 2017 compared to 12 per cent in July 2017.
The transport index rose marginally by 0.03 per cent due to an increase in pump prices of diesel despite the decrease recorded for petrol.
Going forward to the end of 2017 inflationary pressures will be increase given food prices are expected to go up because of the depressed rainfall witnessed during the long rains period.
Analysts at Cytonn Investments predict Inflation to average 9.5 per cent over the course of the year, which is above the upper bound of the government target range of 2.5 per cent – 7.5 per cent.
