Kenya’s inflation rose at its fastest pace in two and a half years in April, hitting an eight-month high of 4.1 percent on higher food, electricity and transport prices.
The 0.5 percentage point increase—from 3.6 percent in March—was the highest margin of growth on a month-on-month basis since September 2022, data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows.
On the food basket, the key drivers were potatoes and maize, while prices of perishable vegetables such as kale (sukuma wiki), cabbages and traditional vegetables fell due to favourable weather conditions following the onset of the rainy season.
Households also paid more for electricity in April compared to March, with the cost of 50 kilowatt hours (kWh) going up by 3.8 percent to Sh1,315.81, and that of 200 kWh by 3.4 percent to Sh5,877.92.
The three categories of food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and energy, and transport together account for 57 percent of the total weight of the consumer price index (CPI), which has 13 major expenditure categories. They are therefore major determinants of the direction of the headline inflation.
“The Food Index increased by 0.4 percent between March 2025 and April 2025…notably, prices of potatoes (Irish), maize grain (loose) and fortified maize flour rose by four, 2.9 and 2.6 percent, respectively, between March 2025 and April 2025,” said the KNBS in its monthly inflation report for April.
“The transport index rose by 0.5 percent between March 2025 and April 2025 mainly attributable to increase in prices of country bus fares during Easter holidays.”
Notably, core inflation (non-food non-fuel) rose to a 10-month high of 2.5 percent in April, from 2.2 percent in March, indicating some pass-through or second-round effects of the rising cost of food in the previous months.
Non-core inflation, which includes items such as food and fuel whose prices are volatile or transient, rose to 8.4 percent from 7.4 percent in March.
The outlook for inflation in the near and medium term, however, remains positive, with respondents to a Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) market perceptions survey carried out in March (ahead of the April monetary policy committee meeting) indicating that they expect food and energy prices to fall due to the long rains and moderating global crude prices, respectively.
The survey targeted chief executives and other senior officers of 353 private sector firms, which include 37 commercial banks, 14 microfinance banks (MFBs) and 302 non-bank private firms, including 84 hotels.
In a separate agricultural survey, which drew respondents from select wholesale and retail markets and select farms in key food basket regions, the proportion of those expecting an increase in overall inflation over the next three months declined to 47 percent in March from 58 percent in February 2025.
