Food prices rose nearly six percent last year, the largest growth in a decade.

According to Statistics Korea on Monday, the country's overall inflation rate marked two-point-five percent in 2021, the highest in ten years since 2011, when it posted four percent. 

In particular, the prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by five-point-nine percent from a year earlier, while transportation prices jumped six-point-three percent last year.

These prices both marked the largest growth in ten years. The hikes are attributed to sharp increases in the prices of agricultural and processed foods as well as automobile fuel.

Increases in food and vehicle fuel prices impact consumers directly as there are limits to how much they can reduce spending on those items.