Kathmandu, Oct. 15 -- Rising prices of daily essentials are squeezing household budgets, hitting fixed-income earners and daily wage workers particularly hard as Nepal heads into the festive season.

Nepal Rastra Bank's consumer price index shows that food inflation has accelerated significantly compared to a year earlier, with ghee and oil, fruits, meat and fish, and vegetables recording sharp increases.

According to the central bank's National Consumer Price Index, year-on-year inflation in food and beverages reached 6.77 percent in mid-August. Prices of ghee and oil rose 15.62 percent, while fruit prices increased 15.39 percent during the review period.

Inflation in meat and fish stood at 8.65 percent, while vegetable prices rose 6.9...