Consumer Prices Indexes (CPI) and Inflation Rates for the Month of January 2006

The Central Bureau of Statistics is pleased to release the Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and inflation rates for the month of January 2006, for your information and use. This data is generated through monthly data collection from retail outlets in 13 urban centres in Kenya. The data is perceived to be representative of the spending behaviour of Kenyan urban households. The price data is collected in the second and third week of the month of review in the selected retail outlets. This is in order to maintain consistency in price variations. Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 8.7 per cent from 185.2 points in December 2005 to 201.3 points in January 2006. Month-on-month overall inflation rate increased from 7.6 per cent in December 2005 to 15.4 per cent in January 2006 on account of steep rise in food prices occasioned by a severe drought prevailing in the country. On the other hand, month-on-month underlying inflation rate which excludes food items from the CPI basket declined from 6.0 per cent to 5.5 per cent.