ANKARA 

Turkey saw an annual hike of 18.71% in consumer prices in May, the country's statistical authority TurkStat reported on Monday.

Last month, the annual inflation went down 0.79 percentage points from 19.50% in April.

TurkStat said the highest annual price increase was recorded in food and non-alcoholic beverages with 28.44% in May.

"Miscellaneous goods and services with 26.75%, furnishing and household equipment with 24.54%, recreation and culture with 20.06% and hotels, cafes and restaurants with 19.77% were the other main groups where high annual increases realized," the institute said.

Last week, an Anadolu Agency survey showed that a group of 17 economists forecast an average annual climb of 19.10% in consumer prices in May.

The economists also forecast that Turkey's year-end annual inflation would be 16.01% on average -- lowest at 14.50% and highest at 18.00%.

TurkStat said consumer prices rose by 0.95% in May on a monthly basis. 

"The highest monthly increase was 8.88% in alcoholic beverages and tobacco," the institute said. "The highest monthly decrease was 1.58% in furnishing and household equipment."

"In May 2019 within average prices of 418 items in the index, average prices of 48 items remained unchanged while average prices of 267 items increased and average prices of 103 items decreased," it added.

The official figures also revealed that the 12-month average hike in consumer prices was 19.91% as of this May.

According to the latest inflation report of the Central Bank of Turkey, the year-end annual inflation would be 14.6%, hovering between 12.1% and 17.1%.

As noted in Turkey's new economy program announced in September 2018, the country's inflation rate target is 15.9% this year, 9.8% next year, and 6.0% in 2021.

Over the last decade, annual inflation saw its lowest level at 3.99% in March 2011, while it peaked at 25.24% in October 2018.