INFLATION further soared to 6.1 percent in June as food, fuel and transport prices continued to increase, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said on Tuesday.

“The uptrend of inflation for June 2022 was primarily brought about by the higher annual growth rate in the index for food and non-alcoholic beverages at six percent, from 4.9 percent in the previous month,” the state statistics bureau said.

Transport costs meanwhile grew by 17.1 percent annually, from 14.6 percent in May, the PSA noted.

The inflation rate in June was again above the two to four percent target range of government economic managers, and higher than the 5.4 percent level seen in May and the 4.9 percent rate seen in April.

But it was within the 5.7 to 6.5 percent forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

National Statistician Dennis Mapa said they expected inflation to continue rising based on the data gathered so far.

The BSP has already raised its benchmark rate by 50 basis points to 2.5 percent this year to help tame inflation.