An economist says New Zealanders could be dealing with high food prices for a while

There's been a 6.8 percent increase from last May to this one.

The five measured categories all had increases, topped by fruit and vegetables, which jumped 10 percent.

ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith says food is contributing to inflation, which could go over seven percent by the end of this month.

He says the major problem our economy has at the moment is inflation which isn't going away any time soon.