Consumer prices rose over four percent on-year in March, growing at the steepest pace in over a decade.

According to Statistics Korea on Tuesday, the country's consumer price index stood at 106-point-06 in March, up four-point-one percent from a year earlier.

It is the largest on-year gain since December 2011 when it grew four-point-two percent, and is the first time since then that inflation surpassed four percent.

Prices grew three-point-two percent in October of last year and continued to post over three percent for the following five months.

The rise in March is mainly due to the soaring prices of petroleum products, which jumped 31-point-two percent, the largest on-year gain since last November.

Service prices rose three-point-one percent from a year earlier, while the price growth of agricultural, livestock and fisheries goods slowed to zero-point-four percent in March.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile food and oil prices, rose three-point-three percent on-year in March, the largest growth since December 2011.