The prices of wheat flour have seen a sharp increase since the month of January 2020 when the prices in the international market shot up by 32%.
With the surge in international market prices, Kenyans will have to dig deeper this Christmas to buy a packet of wheat flour with a two-kilogramme packet retailing at Ksh135.
This is the highest price witnessed in the last one and a half years.
In July 2020, a tonne in the international market cost $525 (58,500). The same now costs $575 (Ksh 64,072).
"Wheat prices in the world market have been on an upward trend since June. The current consumer cost does not even match our current wheat purchase price," Rajan Shah, the Chief Executive Officer Capwell Industries stated.
Other basic items whose prices have shot up include; milk and sugar.
Millers have since requested the government to let the market forces determine the buying price of wheat instead of fixing it.
They argued that fixing prices had a negative impact on the consumer price.
This comes even after President Uhuru Kenyatta reduced the Value-Added Tax rate from 16 to 14 in March 2020 in a bid to ease pain on households facing lower incomes during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It was the first time in seven years that Kenya reduced VAT.
However, on January 1, 2021, the corporate tax rate will revert to 30% from the current 25% while the individual Income tax rate will revert to 30% from the current 25% for those earning above Ksh24,000.
The Value Added Tax rate (VAT) on products will revert to 16% from the current 14%.
The reversal is set to hit Kenyans hard, coupled with new taxes that will be introduced in 2021 to boost the economy.
