Kenya’s inflation fell in March compared with a month earlier, driven by falling prices of some food items and transport costs, the statistics office said on Friday.

Inflation dropped to 5.7 per cent year-on-year in March from 6.3 per cent in February, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

On a month-on-month basis, inflation was at 0.2 per cent compared with 0.1 per cent in February, the office said.

The government has a preferred range for inflation of between 2.5 per cent and 7.5 per cent in the medium term.

The central bank is due to announce its latest lending rate decision on April 3. In February, the bank raised its benchmark rate to 13.0 per cent from 12.5 per cent previously.

• A Reuters report