Kenya's overall inflation rises to 4.35 pct in March

NAIROBI, march 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's overall inflation rate rose to 4.35 percent in march, up from 4.14 percent in February, the statistics bureau said on Friday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said that the increase was mainly due to prevailing drought conditions that pushed up the cost of some food items.

"Between February and march 2019, Food and Non-Alcoholic Drinks' Index increased by 3.30 percent," the bureau said in a statement issued in Nairobi.

The Consumer Price Indices (CPI) surged 1.60 percent on a monthly basis in march, the KNBS said.

The Housing, Water, Electricity, Gas and Other Fuels' Index fell 0.06 percent in march compared to February, it said.

"This resulted from lower cost of electricity, which outweighed increase in house rents and cooking fuels," the statistics agency said.

The Transport Index increased by 0.42 percent, mainly as a result of increases in pump prices of petrol and diesel.

The prices were obtained from selected retail outlets in 25 data collection zones in Nairobi and 13 other urban centers.