NAIROBI (Reuters) - Kenya's year-on-year inflation rose to 11.48 percent in April from 10.28 percent last month, on the back of higher prices of food, the statistics office said on Friday. The rate first rose outside of the government's preferred band of 2.5-7.5 percent in February, after food prices surged due to a drought, which left about 2.7 million people in need of food aid. April's rate of inflation is the highest since May 2012. Month-on-month inflation increased to 1.79 percent from 1.67 percent last month. Policymakers held the benchmark lending rate at 10.0 percent last month saying they expected inflation to fall in line soon. Prices of vegetables, maize flour and maize grains rose during the month, the statistics office said. (Reporting by Duncan Miriri, editing by Pritha Sarkar)