Inflation rises to 4.5 per cent in August, driven by food, transport prices
On the other hand, notable increases were recorded for vegetables, with cabbage prices registering the highest rise at 6.3 per cent, followed by prices of carrots (2.4 per cent), sukuma wiki (1.9 per cent), and tomatoes (1.2 per cent).
Increased food commodity and transport prices played a key role in pushing inflation up to 4.5 per cent in August, from 4.1 per cent in July.
The record marks the second consecutive monthly rise since June, when the figure headlined 3.8 per cent, highlighting growing cost pressures on households’ budgets.
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Data by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) shows the food and non alcoholic beverages index rose by 0.6 per cent between July and August 2025.
However, prices within the division recorded mixed movements.
Price drops were observed for items such as fresh unpacketed cow milk (-0.9 per cent), fortified maize flour (-1.7 per cent), sifted maize flour (-1.5 per cent), beans (-0.7 per cent), loose maize grain (-0.4 per cent), and oranges (-0.7 per cent).
On the other hand, notable increases were recorded for vegetables, with cabbage prices registering the highest rise at 6.3 per cent, followed by prices of carrots (2.4 per cent), sukuma wiki (1.9 per cent), and tomatoes (1.2 per cent).
“Prices of wheat flour-white and onions bulb and leeks rose by 0.9 per cent each, while prices of potatoes increased by 0.7 per cent,” KNBS said.
The transport sector was the second-largest contributor, with its index increasing by 0.5 per cent between July and August.
Notably, the division also showed mixed developments.
Despite petrol prices decreasing by 0.5 per cent, and diesel prices remaining unchanged during the month, passenger transport costs rose significantly, with the country bus/matatu fare for the Mombasa to Nairobi route recording a sharp increase of 15.4 per cent.
Similarly, local transport costs went up, as tuk-tuk fares rose by 1.5 per cent.
Conversely, other divisions saw a decline in their index, for example, the Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels category, which registered a 0.2 per cent decrease.
Electricity charges decreased, with 50kWh band prices dropping by 2.3 per cent and 200kWh band prices declining by 2.1 per cent.
Similarly, kerosene/paraffin prices fell by 0.6 per cent.
On the other hand, single-room house rent increased by 0.1 per cent, and gas/LPG prices increased by 0.4 per cent.
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Year-on-year, the 4.5 per cent implies that the general price level of commodities was 4.5 per cent higher in August 2025 than it was in August 2024.
The price increase was primarily driven by a rise in prices of items in the Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages (8.3 per cent); Transport (4.4 per cent), and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and other fuels (0.8 per cent) over the one-year period.
These three divisions together account for over 57 per cent of the total weight across the 13 major household expenditure categories.
Core inflation, used to derive the headline figure and measures cost of living, excluding volatile components like food and energy prices from the overall Consumer Price Index (CPI), declined to 3.0 per cent from 3.1 per cent in the preceding month.
On the other hand, non-core, which represents the price movements of those excluded volatile items, rose to 9.2 per cent from 7.2 per cent.
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