Kenya private sector activity expands weakly in January, PMI shows

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's private sector activity expanded for a fourth straight month in January but only modestly and at a slower pace than in December, a survey showed on Wednesday.

The Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped to 50.5 in January from 50.6 a month earlier. Readings above 50.0 signal an expansion in activity.

"The index was above the 50.0 neutral mark for the fourth successive month, thereby extending the current period of private sector growth," Stanbic Bank said in comments accompanying the survey.

In January, the finance ministry estimated growth slowed to 4.6% in 2024 from 5.6 percent in 2023 but predicted it would pick up this year.

Inflation rose in January, reaching 3.3% year-on-year from 3.0% a month earlier, data from the statistics office showed.

"Kenyan businesses reported an increase in purchase prices for imported commodities, albeit a slower one than the preceding month, still attributed to higher taxes," said Christopher Legilisho, an economist at Stanbic Bank.

"Output prices increased but less briskly," he added. "We would therefore foresee a slight easing in inflationary pressure during January than was the case in December."

(Reporting by George Obulutsa; Editing by Christina Fincher)

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