Leading Economic Indicators - May 2017

The Leading Economic Indicators (LEI) for May 2017 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 from 186.24 points in April 2017 to 187.64 points in May 2017. The overall rate of inflation rose from 11.48 per cent to 11.70 per cent during the same period. In May 2017, the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against the major trading currencies except for the Japanese Yen and the Tanzanian shilling. The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, decreased from 8.77 per cent in April 2017 to 8.71 per cent in May 2017 while the interbank rate fell from 5.31 in April 2017 to 4.93 per cent in May 2017.