Turkey's annual inflation rate fell to 19.5% in April, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced Friday.

The consumer price index (CPI) skidded 0.21 percentage points from 19.71 percent in March 2018.

On a monthly basis, the consumer prices climbed 1.69 percent in April.

The highest price increase last month was seen in food and non-alcoholic beverages, up 31.86% on a yearly basis.

The highest monthly increase month-on-month was seen in alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 6.77% while the only monthly decrease was 0.30% in communication, according to the data.

"In April 2019 within average prices of 418 items in the index, average prices of 42 items remained unchanged, while average prices of 294 items increased, and average prices of 82 items decreased," it said.

TurkStat data showed that the 12-month average hike in consumer prices was 19.39% as of this April.

Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak welcomed the inflation data released Friday.

"The core annual inflation also went significantly down from 17.53% to 16.30%. These developments show that we will attain our [inflation] targets, especially with a drop in food [prices] in the summer," Albayrak wrote on Twitter.

"Positive developments in the consumer price index indicate the rebalancing process of the Turkish economy continues," he said.

The April figure was also below market expectations.

A group of 16 economists polled by Anadolu Agency forecast consumer prices in Turkey would rise 20.25% compared to the same month last year.