ZURICH, June 5 (Reuters) - Swiss annual inflation dipped to 2.2% as expected in May, government data showed on Monday, although the Swiss National Bank is still expected to hike interest rates later this month.

The year-on-year increase in consumer prices reported by the Federal Statistics Office was below the 2.6% rate in April and in line with the 2.2% forecast in a Refinitiv poll.

Although modest compared to other countries, many of which have seen double-digit price growth, Swiss headline inflation has remained above the central bank's target range since February 2022.

The May reading was the 15th consecutive month that Swiss inflation has been above the SNB's target range for annual price increases of 0% to 2%.

"Inflationary pressures remain relatively broad based and the May CPI release will not change that," said Credit Suisse economist Maxime Botteron.

"In that context, a rate hike by the SNB is highly likely in June," he said, adding he expected the SNB to raise its policy rate by 50 basis points to 2% as "inflation will likely remain on the upper end of the definition of price stability over the next few quarters."

Swiss National Bank Vice Chairman Martin Schlegel on Friday said the central bank remained ready to raise rates to tackle inflation which was becoming more broad based.

SNB Chairman Thomas Jordan also said earlier last week the longer inflation remained above the central bank's goal, the more it became entrenched in the perception of companies and households, becoming harder to reduce.

The SNB has increased interest rates four times over the past year and the market currently expects a further 25 basis point increase from the current 1.5% level when it makes it next assessment on June 22.

Month-on-month, Swiss prices increased by 0.3%, mainly attributed to more expensive rents and package holidays, the Federal Statistics Office said. Vegetables also became dearer.

Annual core inflation, which strips out volatile items like fuel and food, was 1.9% down from 2.2% in April.

(Reporting by John Revill Editing by Tomasz Janowski)