Pakistan's annual inflation rose to 37.97% year-on-year in May, the statistics bureau said on Thursday, showing a continued uptick in the highest ever inflation in the country.

The CPI stood at 36.5% in April, which the bureau said was the highest in their records.

The month-on-month rise in May was 1.58%, the bureau said in a press release, adding vegetables, pulses and chicken prices posted the biggest increases.

Inflation has been on an upward trend since early this year after the government took painful measures as part of the fiscal adjustments demanded by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to unlock stalled funding, which still hasn't been disbursed.

(Reporting by Islamabad bureau; Editing by Hugh Lawson)