A person shops at a major discount chain store in Seoul, Dec. 19. Yonhap

Korea's inflationary pressures partially eased this year, following the highest price growth in decades during the post-pandemic period, data showed Tuesday.

Consumer prices, a key gauge of inflation, increased 2.3 percent on-year in 2024, the slowest pace in four years, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. They had gained 2.5 percent, 5.1 percent and 3.6 percent in the previous three years, respectively.

The 2024 reading aligns with the Bank of Korea's forecast of 2.3 percent released in November and approaches its target rate of 2 percent.

Agricultural product prices saw a sharp increase of 10.4 percent on-year, accelerating from a 6 percent rise the previous year.

Vegetables and fruits, in particular, experienced a significant surge of 9.8 percent, the highest annual growth since 2010.

In contrast, prices of petroleum products declined 1.1 percent from a year earlier, driven by the continued easing of global oil prices.

The drop in petroleum prices, however, was sharply lower than the 12.1 percent decline recorded in the previous year, according to Gong Mi-sook, an official from the agency, who attributed the moderation to the partial reduction of fuel tax cuts.

"The price increases for other items have slowed (this year) compared to the previous year," Gong added.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, went up 2.2 percent on-year in 2024.

Prices of daily necessities — 144 items closely related to people's everyday lives, such as food, clothing and housing — climbed 2.7 percent on-year, falling below the 3 percent level for the first time in four years.

In December, consumer prices grew 1.9 percent from the same month last year, marking the fourth consecutive month that inflation remained within the 1 percent range.

The figure, however, accelerated from the 1.5 percent on-year growth recorded in November and slightly exceeded market expectations.

Korea's consumer inflation has stayed below 3 percent since April and fell below the 2 percent target for the first time in September. (Yonhap)