The Leading Economic Indicators for the month of August 2015 highlights trends in Consumer Price Indices (CPI) and inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, international trade, agriculture, energy, manufacturing, building and construction, tourism and transport.
Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased from 160.57 points in July 2015 to 160.90 points in August 2015. The overall rate of inflation declined from 6.62 per cent to 5.84 per cent during the same period. In August 2015, the Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the South African Rand and the Tanzanian shilling while depreciating against the other currencies.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, increased from 10.56 per cent in July 2015 to 11.54 per cent in August 2015.Similarly, the inter-bank rates increased to a level of 18.63 per cent in August 2015.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index contracted from 4,405 points in July 2015 to 4,176 points in August 2015, while the total number of shares traded increased from 715 million to 734 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded contracted from KSh21.55 billion in July 2015 to KSh 20.79 billion in August 2015. Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation expanded from KSh 2,549.57 billion in July 2015 to KSh 2,570.45 billion in August 2015. Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 943.77 billion in July 2015 to KSh 948.73 billion in August 2015. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves declined from KSh 414.76 billion to KSh 406.60 billion over the same period. Download Leading Economic Indicators August 2015