Kenyan economy grew by 5.9 per cent in the first quarter of 2016.
This is according to data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) released on Thursday.
However, the cost of living increased in the first quarter to 7 per cent from 5.8 per cent that was reported in the first quarter of 2015. Overall inflation rate in the month of June 2016 stood at 5.8 per cent. This was brought about by an increase in commodity prices such as food and non-alcoholic beverages whose price indices jumped by 2.1 per cent in June.
The economic growth was attributed to improvements in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sectors which, was supported mostly by increase in cash crops exports. Tea and horticulture crops exports expanded by 4.8 per cent in the quarter under review. This is compared to a 2.9 per cent growth in a similar quarter in 2015.