BEIJING - China's inflation in June has jumped to its highest level in three years, a higher-than-expected rise fueled by escalating food prices that challenged the government's recent efforts to tighten monetary policies.

However, many economists believed that the growth of the consumer price index (CPI), a core economic indicator, is likely to slow down in the second half of this year.

The CPI surged to a new peak of 6.4 percent year-on-year in June, compared with a 5.5 percent growth in May, higher than the 6.2 rise predicted by economists, according to the figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on its website on Saturday.