Service prices grew at the steepest pace in more than two decades in September.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, the service price index marked 106-point-53 last month, up four-point-two percent from a year earlier.

This represents the largest on-year gain in 21 years since October 2001, when it posted an increase of four-point-three percent.

The growth rate of service prices stayed in the zero-percent range in 2020 before rising to the mid-two percent level in the middle of last year. The rate then climbed to four percent in July this year, hitting the four-percent level for the first time in 14 years.

In particular, prices of personal services, which account for more than half of the service prices, spiked six-point-four percent in September, the largest growth since April 1998.

Overall consumer prices are expected to remain high for the time being as core consumer prices are on the gradual rise.