Kenya’s inflation fell to 3.6 per cent year-on-year in September from 4.4 per cent a month earlier, the statistics office said on Wednesday.

On a month-on-month basis inflation was at 0.2 per cent from zero per cent a month earlier, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

The Kenyan government targets an inflation rate of between 2.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the medium term.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) bank is due to announce its next interest rate decision on October 8.

It cut its benchmark lending rate by 25 basis points in August, saying there was scope to ease policy gradually as inflation had fallen below the midpoint of its target range.

In the preceding month of August, the KNBS data shows the year-on-year inflation rate was 4.4 per cent.

The inflation rate, it said, is  measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which stood at 4.4 per cent in August 2024.

“This means that the general price level was 4.4 per cent higher in August 2024 than it was in August 2023. The price increase was mainly driven by the rise in prices of commodities under food and non-alcoholic beverages (5.3 per cent); housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (4.2 per cent) and transport (3.9 per cent) between August 2023 and August 2024”

The three divisions, it said, “account for over 57 per cent of the weights of the 13 broad categories. The alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics year on year index rose by 8.2 per cent.

• A Tell / Reuters report