[Elvis Ogina, Standard]Urban areas outside Nairobi last year overtook the capital city in the cost of living for the first time in seven years. This marked the first time since 2014 that the cost of living in urban areas outside Nairobi has beaten that of the capital's lower-income bracket, which is often used to gauge inflation for urban dwellers. The increased inflation in urban areas outside Nairobi comes at a time when KNBS findings show that the number of urban dwellers jumped from 12 million in 2009 to 14.8 million in 2019. At 6.7 per cent, the cost of living in urban areas outside Nairobi is a rise from 5.9 per cent in 2020 and the highest since 2017 (8.2 per cent). But Nairobi’s middle class — households spending between 46,355 and Sh184,394 per month — saw their cost of living jump from 2.6 per cent to 4.2 per cent.

Source: Standard Digital May 11, 2022 12:12 UTC