January 2023 is likely to be a rough month with the implementation of new policies that will see the cost of day-to-day commodities shoot through the roof.
Towards the end of 2022, the government revealed that it would do away with some of the measures it put in place to cushion Kenyans from the effects of the pandemic.
Kenyans.co.ke looks at five commodities whose prices will increase in 2023:
Electricity
A 15 per cent subsidy on the cost of electricity enjoyed by Kenyans from January 1 introduced under former President Uhuru Kenyatta will not make it to 2023.
Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority (EPRA) Director-General Daniel Kiptoo explained that the move was part of the government's plan to cut costs by doing away with subsidies.
“When the new government came in, it withdrew the subsidy in August, and thus after the end of December, we will revert to the rates that were in place before January,” Kiptoo stated.
The subsidy was part of a 30 percent downward adjustment to lower the cost of electricity which was to be implemented in two phases. However, the second phase was not realized due to the high costs.
School Fees
Parents will part with an arm and leg to keep their children in school in 2023. The news first made headlines when an image of the fee structure of one of the schools went viral.
However, amid uproar by the caregivers, Education Cabinet Secretary Ezekiel Machogu clarified that the government had not increased the fees.
"We have not changed the school fees. From January, we will have three terms and the fee structure remains the same as that of two years ago," Machogu explained.
The Ministry of Education had reduced the fees, following the revision of the school calendar that saw some terms reduced to only eight weeks.
Fuel
The Budget and Review Outlook paper released on December 25 indicated that the state would do away with the subsidy.
President Ruto's administration did away with subsidies on super petrol but continued with that on diesel to cushion Kenyans using public transport.
According to the World Bank, the price of crude oil had dropped. However, divergent trends and differences in supply conditions could see fuel prices drop marginally in 2023.
Mobile Transaction
Transactions between mobile money wallets and banks and vice versa will now be charged. The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) announced the re-introduction of the charges.
Nonetheless, Kenyans will enjoy discounted charges when paying for commodities after the paybill charges were slashed by half.
A report released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) on Friday, December 30, indicated that the inflation against the consumer price index dropped for a second consecutive month.
In December, the rate dipped to 9.1 from 9.4 in November.
Inflation in December was driven by the increase in prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages, transport, housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, KNBS stated.
