By George Omondi
In Summary
- KNBS shows urban rich paid 2pc more while the poor paid 6pc more for same items.
The rising cost of basic goods and services fell
heavily on the urban poor and rural dwellers who on average paid 6.28
per cent more for the same set of items bought last year.
In contrast Nairobi households earning more than
Sh121,000 monthly paid only 2.69 per cent more on average for basic
commodities and services, new data prepared by Kenya National Bureau of
Statistics (KNBS) shows.
Those in the Sh23, 671 - 119,999 income bracket
paid 3.84 per cent more compared to 3.55 per cent more for Nairobi
households earning less than Sh23, 670, Leading Economic Indicators for
May show.
“In general, the poor the household is, the larger
the portion of income that ends up in basic items such as food and
shelter,” says Robert Shaw, economic analyst and businessman.
The figures released last week by KNBS not only
fly in the face of the clamour for higher salaries by Members of
Parliament but also justify the call for heavy investment in social
services.
The data uncovers the extent of a deepening social
inequality in a country that has otherwise experienced a lower
inflation rate averaging at 4.09 per cent for the first four months of
2013.
In a hypothetical basket of goods that KNBS uses
to calculate cost of living, food and alcoholic drinks take the biggest
portion of 36.04 per cent, followed by housing items at 18.3 per cent
and clothing at 7.43 per cent.
The food and non-alcoholic drinks’ segment of the
consumer basket budged by 0.51 per cent between April and May driven
largely by prices of tomatoes which increased from Sh103.79 to Sh108.33
over the period.
The poor households however, got a temporary
reprieve in housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels’ segment of
the basket which contracted by 0.13 per cent between April and May
following the drop in the costs of kerosene and electricity.
On average, a litre of kerosene was retailing at Sh79.21 in May, down from Sh83.69 in April.
In general, Kenyans living outside Nairobi –
including regions such as Mombasa, Malindi, Machakos, Nyeri, Thika,
Nakuru, Kisii, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nyahururu, Garissa and Bungoma – still
paid 2.3 times more on basic items compared to the rich living in
Nairobi.
“As one moves deeper into the rural set up, the
proportion of people who spend all their earnings on basic items also
increases,” said Mr Shaw.
According to World Bank statistics, only 30 per
cent of Kenyans live in cities and urban areas meaning about 28 million
people still live in rural areas
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