Inflation measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI) continued to climb in the week that ended on August 25, jumping to a record 44.58 per cent year-on-year. Data shared by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Friday showed that the index rose due to higher prices of essential food items – tomatoes, onions, pulses and cooking oil – and fuel. Prior to this, the highest year-on-year weekly inflation figure was 42.3pc, which was recorded for the week ending on Aug 18. The latest data showed that the SPI increased 1.83pc week-on-week. It had risen 3.35pc last week. The SPI monitors prices of 51 essential items based on a survey of 50 markets in 17 cities of the country. During the week under review, the prices of 23 items increased; seven items saw a decrease in prices while for 21 items they remained unchanged. Highest year-on-year increase * Tomatoes: 178.1pc * Onions: 155.14pc * High speed diesel: 108.77pc * Petrol: 94.53pc * Pulse Masoor: 90.74pc * Cooking oil (5 litres): 70.61pc Highest week-on-week increase * Tomatoes: 43.09pc * Onions: 41.13pc * Potatoes: 6.32pc * Eggs: 3.43pc * Cigarettes: 2.26pc * Garlic: 2.23pc Highest week-on-week decrease * Pulse Masoor: -1.18pc * Ghee (1kg): -1pc * Ghee (2.5kg): -0.82pc * Bananas: -0.61pc * Cooking oil (5 litres): -0.51pc * Sugar: -0.28pc.