Nairobi, Feb. 4 -- Kenya's private sector activity grew at the slowest pace in four months in January, weighed down by higher prices of raw materials as well as elevated import taxes, new findings of a monthly survey indicate.

The Stanbic Kenya Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) -a gauge for monthly private sector activity such as output, new orders, and employment- slowed to 51.9 last month, down from 53.7 in December last year.

A reading above 50 signals expansion activity, while a reading below denotes a contraction.

"For the fifth month in a row, the headline PMI was above the 50.0 mark, signalling an upturn in business conditions. However, the improvement was less pronounced compared to those seen at the end of last year, shown by th...