High goat meat prices, fares slow down cost of living fall
Travellers mill around the Bungoma Line booking office in Kisumu on December 19, 2023. The Christmas festivities saw an increase in a number of travelers upcountry as people headed home for the celebrations.
Month-on-month, a kilo of beef with bones rose by 3.6 percent from Sh582.63 in November.
A ticket from Nairobi, to Siaya County, rose by 58.3 percent to Sh1,900 in December from Sh1,200 in November.
A high demand for meat delicacies in the festive season and the rush by Kenyans to reunite with family in rural areas stymied what would have been a major drop in inflation in December due to good rains and lower fuel prices.
The latest report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on inflation — a measure of the cost of living over a 12-month period— shows that even with the El Nino rains which resulted into better pasture for livestock, prices of beef and mutton rose, pointing to festivity-driven demand which outstripped the increased supply.
