With inflation rising to 6.8% in September, we looked at how much a KSh 1,000 note has lost in purchasing power since January 2010.
➠ KSh 1,000 then is worth about KSh 344 today, a 65.6% erosion in buying power.
➠ A KSh 10,000 monthly basket in 2010 would cost about KSh 29,060 today.
The note’s real value fell below KSh 500 in April 2020, while nearly 20% of its purchasing power was lost in the first two years alone.
Kenya’s annual inflation rose to 6.8% in September 2026, the highest since January 2024, with food and transport remaining the main sources of price pressure.
Food and Non-Alcoholic Beverages inflation accelerated to 9.5% YoY, with higher prices for milk, wheat flour, cabbages, potatoes and other fresh produce, while Transport inflation stood at 15.6%, reflecting fuel costs that remained sharply above year-earlier levels.
Food contributed 2.8 percentage points to headline inflation and transport another 1.6 points.
Underlying pressures also strengthened, with core inflation rising to 4.0% from 3.4% in August, its highest level in the report’s September 2025-September 2026 series.
Non-core inflation eased to 14.0% from 14.7%, but remained elevated.