The annual headline inflation rate rose to 3.3% in January 2025, up from 3.0% in December 2024, due to a surge in food prices, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).

Food and Non Alcoholic Beverages

Food inflation climbed to 6.1% in January 2025, compared to 4.8% the previous month. Notable increases were observed in the prices of mangoes (20.4%), oranges (25.0%), cabbages (27.0%), tomatoes (21.0%), and Kales-Sukuma wiki (31.2%). Conversely, the prices of sugar and maize grain saw declines of 23.0% and 12.5%, respectively.

On a month-to-month basis, the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages Index saw an increase of 1.6% from December 2024 to January 2025. Significant price hikes were recorded for tomatoes, onions (both leeks and bulbs), and cabbages, which rose by 17.9%, 6.8%, and 5.0%, respectively, during this period. In contrast, the prices of mangoes and cooking oil (Salad) experienced declines of 3.9% and 0.4%, respectively.

Energy and Fuel

Meanwhile, inflation in the categories of Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels further decreased to -1.6% in January 2025 from -0.2% in December 2024, attributed to falling fuel and electricity costs.

The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and Other Fuels Index saw a slight increase of 0.1% between December 2024 and January 2025.

The increase in the overall index was largely due to a rise in the price of kerosene/paraffin by 2.0% during the period. In contrast, prices for electricity (50 kWh) and gas/LPG saw a decline of 0.7% between December 2024 and January 2025.

Transport

Transport inflation rose to 0.7% in January, up from 0.1% in December 2024. Additionally, the Transport Index decreased by 0.4% during the same period, primarily driven by a significant drop in prices of up to 25.0% for country bus/matatu services on certain routes.

This was despite an increase in prices of diesel and petrol by 1.2% and 0.2%, respectively, between December 2024 and January 2025.

The Education index increased by 1.6% mainly because of a rise in prices of private tuition- primary by 2.8%

Core and non-core Inflation

Core inflation is derived by excluding items whose prices are highly volatile from the basket. In January 2025, the rate of core inflation was 2.0%. The core index increased from 127.50 in December 2024 to 127.77 in January 2025. On the other hand, non-core inflation stood at 7.1% during the same period.