Over the past year, food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 9.5%, transport rose 15.6% and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 3.2%. KNBS says these three divisions together make up more than 57% of the total weight of the 13 major expenditure categories. Food alone contributed about 2.8 percentage points to the 6.8% rate.
Fresh packeted milk rose 6% to Ksh61.23, cabbages rose 6.2% to Ksh79.16 per kilogramme, a 2kg packet of white wheat flour rose 4.5% to Ksh181.11 and Irish potatoes rose 3.3% to Ksh121.98 per kilogramme. Tomatoes bucked the trend, falling 4.1% to Ksh106.44 per kilogramme.
A basket of 500ml UHT milk, 2kg of wheat flour, 1kg of cabbage, 1kg of potatoes, 1kg of beans and a litre of cooking oil rose from Ksh960.37 to Ksh986.01. That is about 2.7% in a single month.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items, rose to 4% from 3.4% in August, while non-core inflation stood at 14%, down from 14.7%. September was the sixth consecutive month in which inflation stayed above the 5% midpoint of the central bank’s target range. That target range is 2.5% to 7.5%.
The CBK has held its benchmark Central Bank Rate at 8.75% for three straight meetings, the latest on August 11, after ten consecutive cuts since August 2024 totalling 425 basis points. The Monetary Policy Committee has linked the pressure on prices to the Middle East conflict, which has disrupted global supply chains and pushed up energy prices. The next MPC meeting is on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. Borrowers will be watching closely: average lending rates were 14.39% in July.
What to watch next is the CBK’s October 7 decision, EPRA’s pump price review due by October 14, and whether milk and flour prices keep climbing.
