Drought sends Kenyan inflation to 19%

NAIROBI – Kenya’s monthly inflation rate rose to 18,9 per cent in February, up from the previous month’s 15,4 per cent owing to a severe drought that has pushed up food prices in the east African nation, the government announced yesterday.

“Month-to-month overall inflation rate increased from 15,4 per cent in January 2006 to 18,9 per cent in February 2006,” the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) said in a statement. The bureau, which tracks Kenya’s consumer price index by monitoring prices at shops in 13 towns and cities around the country, found that the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks had increased by 6,5 per cent from January.The price of essential perishable food items jumped between 12,5 and 26,4 per cent.On Tuesday, the Central Bank of Kenya said it was targeting an inflation rate of five percent, despite a searing drought that has put some 11 million people in the east Africa region on the brink of starvation.As many as four million Kenyans are in need of urgent food aid to stave off starvation due to the drought, which the government has declared a national disaster and has already killed at least 40 people, mainly children.Last month, the CBK said in its monthly economic outlook that the drought could undercut projected growth, which was more than five percent in 2005, up from 4,3 per cent in 2004.The United Nations estimates that up to 11 million people in four east African countries – Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti – are on the brink of starvation.- Nampa-AFPThe bureau, which tracks Kenya’s consumer price index by monitoring prices at shops in 13 towns and cities around the country, found that the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks had increased by 6,5 per cent from January.The price of essential perishable food items jumped between 12,5 and 26,4 per cent.On Tuesday, the Central Bank of Kenya said it was targeting an inflation rate of five percent, despite a searing drought that has put some 11 million people in the east Africa region on the brink of starvation.As many as four million Kenyans are in need of urgent food aid to stave off starvation due to the drought, which the government has declared a national disaster and has already killed at least 40 people, mainly children.Last month, the CBK said in its monthly economic outlook that the drought could undercut projected growth, which was more than five percent in 2005, up from 4,3 per cent in 2004.The United Nations estimates that up to 11 million people in four east African countries – Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia and Djibouti – are on the brink of starvation.- Nampa-AFP