Leading Economic Indicators - December 2007

The Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for December 2007 is a monthly publication of the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics that highlights trends in consumer price indices and inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, international trade, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, building and construction, tourism and transport. Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 8.8 per cent from 239.81 points in December 2007 to 260.94 points in January 2008. Average annual inflation rate decelerated from 14.5 per cent in 2006 to 9.8 per cent in 2007. The Kenyan Shilling strengthened against all the major international currencies to record the lowest exchange rate in 2007 compared to the previous year. The benchmark 91-day Treasury bills rose steadily in 2007 before dropping to settle at 6.86 per cent in December 2007 up from 5.73 per cent in December 2006.