NAIROBI, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's overall inflation rate decreased to 4.7 percent in January from 5.71 percent in December 2018, the statistics bureau said on Thursday.

The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said that the decrease in the price of maize grain, maize flour, sugar and beans in January contributed to overall low inflation in the first month of 2019.

Zachary Mwangi, director general of KNBS, said the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased from 193.51 in December 2018 to 194.18 in January, or 0.35 percent.

"Between December 2018 and January 2019, food and non-alcoholic drinks index increased by 0.78 percent," Mwangi said in a statement.

According to Mwangi, year-on-year food inflation stood at 1.62 percent in January. Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels' index increased by 0.20 percent on a monthly basis due to higher cost of housing rent and cooking fuels. But the transport index reduced by 1.40 percent month-on-month mainly due to decreases in the pump prices of petrol and diesel.

The prices were obtained from selected retail outlets in 25 data collection zones in Nairobi and in 13 other urban centers.