South Korea's consumer prices grew at the fastest pace in six months in November on the back of a hike in meat and manufactured good prices, a report showed Tuesday.

According to the report by the Statistics Korea, the consumer price index (CPI) advanced 2.4 percent last month from a year earlier, up from a 2 percent on-year growth tallied the previous month.

The figure shot up at the sharpest rate since May when it jumped 2.7 percent, the report said.

Compared to a month ago, the index rose 0.2 percent, making an upturn from the previous month's 0.3 percent decline, said the report.

Core inflation, which excludes volatile oil and food prices, also marked a jump of 2.5 percent month-on-month during the same period, the report added.

The growth in the index can be mainly attributed to price hikes in livestock products and manufactured goods such as oil products and clothes, the statistics agency said.

In late November, the nation's central bank announced that it would become more lenient on inflation by broadening its 2010-2012target inflation range to between 2 percent and 4 percent from between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent for the previous three years, in a bid to allow flexibility in managing its monetary policy.

(Xinhua News Agency December 1, 2009)