As 2025 came to an end, the economy continued to be marked with a persistent rise in the cost living. This saw the inflation rate reach 4.5% in December 2925, according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS). This figure signifies that the general price level was 4.5% higher than it had been twelve months prior.
Primarily this was driven by three essential sectors that collectively held more than half of the weight in the consumer’s basket: Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages, Transport, and Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas, and other fuels.
Over the course of the year, the price of food and basic staples exerted the most significant upward force, with the division recording a 7.8% increase. Within this category, everyday necessities like sukuma wiki, loose maize flour, and potatoes saw notable price hikes, rising by 4.7%, 5.1%, and 2.9% respectively in December alone compared to November.
While sugar and cooking oil prices offered slight relief with monthly declines, their annual increases, alongside dramatic yearly jumps for items like tomatoes (30.3%) and mangoes (23.1%), painted a picture of sustained pressure on household budgets.
Meanwhile, the cost of moving people and goods also rose substantially, with the Transport division inflating by 5.2% over the year. The festive season in December particularly fueled a sharp 14.4% increase in international airfares and a 5.3% rise in inter-town bus fares, highlighting how seasonal demand can amplify inflationary trends.
The overall Consumer Price Index, increased from 147.08 in November to 148.02. This monthly change was largely propelled by the continued ascent in food prices and transport costs, even as some areas like housing and utilities showed modest reprieves.
For instance, electricity costs for standard consumption bands actually fell by nearly 3% from the previous month. This mixed movement across sectors highlights the complex nature of inflation, where some pressures ease while others intensify.
Core inflation, which excludes volatile items like fresh food and energy and is often seen as indicative of underlying demand pressures, moderated to 2% in December. In contrast, non-core inflation, driven largely by those same volatile components, remained elevated at 11.2%.
This divergence indicates that while underlying inflationary pressures were relatively contained, Kenyans were still feeling the sharp pinch from fluctuations in food and fuel prices. In fact, the data shows that food and non-alcoholic beverages alone contributed 2.4% points to the overall 4.5% inflation rate for December.
