Kenyas inflation rises in October

Rising housing rent and food and energy prices pushed up Kenya‘s inflation rate in the year to October, the statistics office said on Friday.

Inflation rose to 6.72 percent year-on-year in October from 5.97 percent a month earlier, and month-on-month inflation was 0.50 percent, the Kenya Nation Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

The statistics agency said the food and non-alcoholic drinks index – which has a 36.04 percent weighting in the basket of goods used to measure inflation – rose 11.27 percent year-on-year and 0.88 percent from a month earlier.

The housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ index rose 0.69 percent from a month earlier and 3.96 percent year-on year.

The index has an 18.30 percent weighting and is second after food and non-alcoholic drinks.

The central bank has a medium-term inflation target range of between 2.5 percent and 7.5 percent.