New fuel tax pushes Kenya inflation to year high

Kenyan inflation rose to its highest rate in nearly a year in September, the statistics office said on Friday, reflecting the impact of a new value added tax on fuel.

President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government, which is struggling to boost expenditure while cutting its budget deficit, introduced a 16 percent tax on petroleum products at the start of the month, but cut it to 8 percent last week.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said the inflation rate rose to 5.70 percent year-on-year from 4.04 percent a month earlier, while on a monthly basis inflation was 1.02 percent from 0.31 percent in August.

Reuters Africa (af.reuters.com)

~Wakenya Canada