A steep rise in the prices of essential food items, including onions, tomatoes and pulses, pushed weekly inflation to 30.16 per cent year-on-year for the week ending on November 24, according to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday.

Inflation rose 0.48pc week-on-week, compared to a 0.62pc increase in the preceding week.

According to Ismail Iqbal Securities, the week-on-week rise was mainly because of an increase in the prices of eggs and chicken.

Last week, short-term inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) came in at 28.67pc YoY. It had reached a record high of 45.5pc for the week ending Sept 1.

The SPI monitors the prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities across the country. During the week under review, the prices of 19 items increased, those of nine items decreased while 23 items saw no change in their prices.

Highest YoY rise

• Onions: 363.67pc
• Tomatoes: 64.74pc
• Diesel: 64.57pc
• Pulse Gram: 54.71pc
• Petrol: 53.85pc

Highest YoY decline

• Chilli powder 200 grams: 41.42pc
• Sugar: 1.16pc

Highest WoW rise

• Eggs: 8.45pc
• Bananas: 5.87pc
• Chicken: 4.03pc
• Onions: 2.35pc
• Firewood: 1.76pc

Highest WoW decline

• Pulse Gram: 1.26pc
• Tomatoes: 1.08pc
• Pulse Masoor: 1.07pc
• Ghee 2.5kg: 0.59pc
• Flour: 0.4pc

This year has seen decades-high inflation due to an increase in international commodity prices as well as the rupee’s depreciation. In addition, this year’s monsoon floods have caused widespread destruction to standing crops which led to a shortage of vegetables. Subsequently, the government had to remove duties on the import of onions and tomatoes from Afghanistan and Iran.

Removal of subsidies on electricity earlier this year following an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has also contributed to inflationary pressure.

The annual CPI inflation surged to 26.6pc YoY in October after it slowed to 23.2pc in September from a 49-year high of 27.3pc in August as the country continued to be in the grip of high food and transport prices.