Turkish annual consumer price inflation slowed to 43.68% in April, official data showed on Wednesday, slightly below forecast, easing further ahead of presidential and parliamentary elections on May 14. April consumer prices rose 2.39% from a month earlier, less than a predicted 2.60% in a Reuters poll. The poll had forecast that consumer prices would be up 44% from a year earlier, and were expected to end the year at 46.5%. Inflation has been stoked by a currency crisis at the end of 2021 and it touched a 24-year peak of 85.51% last October. It fell sharply in December but eased only to 50.51% in February despite a favorable base effect. The domestic producer price index was up 0.81% month-on-month in April for an annual rise of 52.11%, according to the data from the Turkish Statistical Institute.