Consumer prices rose by less than two percent in August, marking their slowest growth in nine months. 

Statistics Korea said Tuesday that the country’s consumer price index stood at 116-point-45 in August, up one-point-seven percent from a year earlier. 

Consumer inflation fell below two percent for the first time in three months. 

The one-point-seven percent figure marks the smallest gain since November of last year, when the index grew one-point-five percent.

The slower growth is mainly due to cellular service fees, which fell 21 percent in August from the same month last year. 

The prices of agricultural products, however, jumped by four-point-eight percent from the previous August, the largest growth in 13 months. 

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose one-point-nine percent in August from a year earlier.