TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's core consumer prices in December rose 3.0 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace in more than a year, as government subsidies for utility bills ended, the internal affairs ministry said Friday.

The increase in the nationwide core consumer price index, excluding volatile fresh food, followed a 2.7 percent rise in November. The inflation rate has remained at or above the Bank of Japan's 2 percent target since April 2022.

The core-core CPI, which strips away both energy and fresh food and shows underlying price trends, was up 2.4 percent from the year before, unchanged from the previous month, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said.

The latest CPI was released hours before the end of the Bank of Japan's two-day policy meeting, at which the central bank decided to raise its policy rate to 0.5 percent from 0.25 percent.

BOJ chief Kazuo Ueda has said it will continue to tighten monetary policy if the economy and prices move in line with the central bank's expectations.

Yuichi Kodama, chief economist at Meiji Yasuda Research Institute, pointed out that the CPI increase was driven by cost-push factors, including rising food prices, and it remains unclear whether the current trend will continue.

"But the strong outcome gives an 'excuse' for the BOJ" to increase the key short-term rate, Kodama said before the rate hike decision, adding the central bank seemed to be eager to do so to avoid the yen's further depreciation.

As the government terminated its subsidies to alleviate the burden of utility bills on households in the reporting month, energy prices climbed 10.1 percent, up from a 6.0 percent increase in November.

Electricity prices surged 18.7 percent, accelerating from 9.9 percent in November, and city gas prices jumped 11.1 percent, compared with a 6.4 percent gain the previous month.

Food prices, excluding fresh items, climbed 4.4 percent, up from a 4.2 percent gain in November. Rice soared 64.5 percent, the biggest rise since comparable data became available in 1971, amid short supply, with farmers passing elevated production and other costs on to consumers.

The prices of chocolate and coffee beans were up 30.6 percent and 22.2 percent, respectively, as material costs continued to rise and shipments declined due to adverse weather conditions.

Meanwhile, prices for fresh food jumped 17.3 percent, with cabbages more than doubling from a year earlier as shipments decreased because of extremely high summer temperatures last year and a recent lack of rain.

Among other major items, prices for household durable goods increased 2.6 percent, decelerating from 4.1 percent in November.

Service prices, which are closely monitored by the BOJ when deciding monetary policy as they often reflect wage gains, rose 1.6 percent, up from 1.5 percent in November.

In 2024, the core CPI gained 2.5 percent from the year before, rising for the third consecutive year, the ministry said.