SAO PAULO, July 1 (Reuters) - Brazil's central bank is advancing in its goal of bringing inflation into its target range and keeping it there beyond 2016, bank chief Alexandre Tombini said at an event in Sao Paulo on Wednesday.

He reiterated the bank's commitment to bring inflation to the 4.5 percent center of the official target range by the end of next year. The country's annual inflation rate spiked to 8.8 percent in mid-June.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal; Writing by Caroline Stauffer; Editing by Leslie Adler)