Kenya's overall inflation rate slows to 6.84 pct in February

Kenya's overall monthly inflation declined marginally to 6.84 percent in February from 7.78 percent in January, driven by decreases in food prices, the statistics bureau said on Monday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) computed using the geometric mean approach increased by 0.42 percent from 165.37 in January to 164.37 in February.

"Between January and February, Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks' Index decreased by 0.43 percent. This resulted from notable decreases in prices of key food items which slightly outweighed the increases," the bureau said in a statement.

The bureau said Alcoholic Beverages, Tobacco and Narcotics index continued to remain higher than in the same month of 2015 mainly due to higher Excise duty levied on beer, cigarettes and other products within the division as from December 2015.

Over the same review period, Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels' index increased by 1.81 percent.

"The main contributors to the decline were decreases in prices of kerosene and cooking gas. However, electricity costs remained the same as in January," the statement said.

The Transport Index decreased by 1.62 percent in February compared to the previous month, mainly due to reduced cost of petrol and diesel.

The prices were obtained from selected retail outlets in 25 data collection zones located in Nairobi and 13 other urban centres. Endit