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Prices continued to climb in June with core inflation hitting 4.4 per cent on a yearly basis - surpassing the previous high of 4.2 per cent in December 2008.

Core inflation, which excludes costs of private transport and accommodation to get a better gauge of Singaporeans' average bills, went up due to higher prices in food, retail and utilities.

The June figure is higher than UOB's projection of 3.8 per cent year on year, but still within Bloomberg estimates of 3.9 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

Separately, two more cases of monkeypox were reported on Sunday (July 24), with one a 46-year-old man from Estonia and the other a 26-year-old Singaporean man.

This brings the total number of cases detected here to eight, comprising four local and four imported cases. None have been linked to one another.