Kenya’s annual inflation rose to 19.72% in November from 18.91% in October, driven by the high energy prices and local transport costs, the national statistics bureau said on Tuesday.
This was the 13th straight monthly increase.
The high cost of energy was marked by a 29.44% rise in the cost of petrol per litre in November and the 27.07% rise in the cost of a litre of diesel, used by industries and heavy engines.
The 1.35% hike in the prices of key consumer products also drove up the inflation.
The key consumables, beef, bread, potatoes, wheat flour
and sugar, recorded upward price movements. The price of vegetables, however, showed a downward spiral.
Energy prices increased by 1.55%, mainly caused by the fall of the shilling, the local currency, which suffered from a Eurozone-linked slide which increased demand for the US dollar during the month.
The Kenyan National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said the cost of
transportation rose by 2.19% in November due to continuing increases in
the cost of petrol and diesel.
High energy prices, caused mainly by a national shortage of cooking gas, edged up the prices by a massive 7.01% for the cooking gas. The shortage has been blamed on the lack of adequate gas storage facilities at the Kipevu terminal in Mombasa.
The cost of electricity should have gone down due to the strengthening of the shilling, which shed its weakest moment at 107 against the US dollar in October to record an average of 94 to the dollar. This saw the forex adjustment costs on electricity bills from Ksh2.74 per KWH to 2.62 in November
