SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore's key price gauge in July rose by its fastest pace in over two years, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, due to higher electricity and gas costs driven by a hike in global oil prices, official data showed on Monday.

The core inflation rate — the central bank's favoured price measure - rose 1% in July from a year earlier, in line with the forecast from a Reuters poll of economists. The core price increment is the highest since June 2019, when it rose 1.2%.

Singapore's headline consumer price index (CPI) rose slightly to 2.5% in July year-on-year, from 2.4% in June.

(Reporting by Chen Lin in Singapore; Editing by Ed Davies)