Kenya Q1 GDP growth slows to 3.5 pct yr/yr

NAIROBI, June 29 (Reuters) - Kenya's economic growth slowed to 3.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012 from 5.1 percent a year earlier, the slowest first quarter growth since 2008, the statistics office said on Friday.

"The first quarter of 2012 was characterised by high inflation rates, high interest rates and delays in the onset of the long rains," the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics said in its quarterly review.

It said gross domestic product on a seasonally adjusted basis was flat in the first quarter, compared with 1.5 percent expansion in the same period last year. (Reporting by Kevin Mwanza and Richard Lough; Writing by George Obulutsa; Editing by James Macharia)