U.S. consumer prices rose by 0.7 percent in May, the fastest pace in 20 months, driven by a surge in gas prices, the Labor Department reported on Friday.

The May advance in the department's closely-watched Consumer Price Index was slightly above than the 0.6-percent rise analysts had predicted.

It followed gains of 0.4 percent in April and 0.6 percent in March, and was the biggest increase since the fall of 2005.

Data showed that energy prices rose by 5.4 percent in May, driven by a 10.5-percent jump in gasoline prices.

Food prices increased by 0.3 percent, vegetable prices fell and beef, poultry and fresh fruit prices all rose.

Excluding volatile energy and food, the core consumer prices, sometimes viewed as a better indicator of trends, edged up by a much more modest 0.1 percent. That was slightly lower than the 0.2 percent expected by analysts.

Over the past 12 months, consumer prices have gained 2.7 percent and core prices 2.2 percent.

So far this year, consumer prices have been rising at an annual rate of 5.5 percent, double the 2.5-percent increase for all of 2006. The core prices are up at an annual rate of 2.1 percent, lower than the 2.6-percent rise for all of last year.

Source: Xinhua