President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan pledged late Monday that the Turkish government will decrease the annual inflation rate back to a single-digit level.

"We are in sorrow to see our yearly inflation hitting 36%," he said speaking after a weekly Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.

"Nevertheless, as a government that managed to decrease inflation to 6%, we will repeat our success to protect Turkish citizens from financial troubles," Erdoğan added, underlining that the government is taking necessary measures to fight inflation.

Erdoğan vowed to support families, workers, students and retired people with an assistance package that included financial aid for gas bills and wage hikes.

The president emphasized that Turkish civil servants and pensioners will be supported by new economic measures.

"Total salary raise for civil servants will be 30.5% and our retired citizens will see an inflation level-based increase in their pensions," he said.

"Salaries for any pensioners will not be lower than TL 2,500 ($191)."

Turkey’s annual inflation in December accelerated to its highest level in 19 years, official data showed on Monday.

Consumer prices rose 36.08%, the highest reading since September 2002, up from 21.31% in November, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said. The reading exceeded market forecasts of around 30.6%, with staples such as transportation and food and drink rising even faster.

In December alone, the consumer price index (CPI) took a rare step into double-digits at 13.58%, the data showed.

Reflecting soaring import prices, December’s producer price index (PPI) rose 19.08% month-over-month and 79.89% year-on-year.

Annual consumer prices were led higher by transport prices, which soared 53.66% year-over-year, while heavily-weighted food and drink prices jumped 43.8%.

Inflation has been around 20% in recent months, driven by a slide in the Turkish lira after the central bank slashed its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14% from 19% since September. It will hold its next rate-setting meeting on Jan. 20./DS