Kenya's inflation slows to 5.72 percent in Oct, currency stable

Kenya’s inflation slowed to 5.72 percent year-on-year in October to its lowest level in 17 months, driven by a fall in prices among food items, the statistics office said on Tuesday.
The rate, which stood at 7.06 percent a month earlier, had shot outside of the government’s preferred band of 2.5-7.5 percent earlier in the year due to a severe drought.
Month on month, inflation was -0.63 percent, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement. Inflation for food and non-alcoholic beverages was -1.78 percent during the month. The category has a 36.04 percent weight in the goods used to calculate inflation.
Meanwhile, Kenya's shilling was stable on Tuesday and traders said they were watching for an announcement by opposition leader Raila Odinga after the election board declared President Uhuru Kenyatta winner of a repeat vote that Odinga boycotted. 

At 0839 GMT, commercial banks quoted the shilling at 103.60/80 to the dollar, the same as Monday's close. Traders forecast the shilling to trade in the 103.50-104.00 range in the next few days.