The Leading Economic Indicators 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) rose from 164.67 points in February 2015 to 165.92 points in March 2016. The overall rate of inflation dropped from 6.84 per cent to 6.45 per cent during the same period. In March, 2016 the Kenyan Shilling depreciated against major currencies but appreciated against Tanzanian shilling.
The average yield rate for the 91-day Treasury bills, which is a benchmark for the general trend of interest rates, declined from 10.63 per cent in February 2016 to 8.72 per cent in March 2016. However, the inter-bank rate fell to 4.04 in March 2016 from 4.53 per cent in February 2016.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 share index expanded from 3,871 points in February 2015 to 3,982 points in March 2016, while the total number of shares traded increased from 341 million to 536 million shares during the same period. The total value of NSE shares traded went up from KSh 10.16 billion in February 2015 to KSh 13.45 billion in March 2016.
Broad money supply (M3), a key indicator for monetary policy formulation rose from KSh 2,627.76 billion in February 2016 to KSh 2,662.90 billion in March 2016.
Gross Foreign Exchange Reserves increased from KSh 962.57 billion in February 2016 to KSh 991.42 billion in March 2016. Net Foreign Exchange Reserves expanded from KSh 458.84 billion in February 2016 to KSh 473.46 billion in March 2016. Download Leading Economic Indicators March 2016..