HONG KONG -- Hong Kong's Consumer Price Index (CPI) in June climbed to 5.6 percent from a year ago, higher than the 5.2 percent rise in May, mainly due to the enlarged increases in private housing rentals, as well as the charges for household services and the prices of pork, the city's statistics department said here on Thursday.

Netting out the effects of all the one-off relief measures from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, the underlying inflation rate was 5.5 percent last month, larger than the 5.1 percent in May.

The prices for alcoholic drinks and tobacco jumped 19.9 percent due to the increase in tobacco duty by 41.5 percent; food prices advanced 10.5 percent; and housing prices climbed 6.5 percent, according to the data.

A government spokesman says that inflationary pressures remained notable, and private housing rentals and food prices were the two major driving forces accounting about 70 percent of the rate of increase in the underlying CPI in June.

The spokesman expected the economy will continue to face with upward price pressures in the coming months.

"While global food and commodity prices are likely to stay elevated, domestic cost pressures may also increase as a result of the brisk expansion of the local economy since early 2010," said the spokesman.