29 June, Minsk /BELTA/. The growth rate of prices in Belarus has slowed down. This was stated today at a press conference by the Minister of Economy, Nikolai Snopkov, as reported by a BELTA correspondent. "The growth rate of prices is slowing down," the minister stated. "The consumer price index for the first half of the year as a whole will be 33-34%. Compared to May of this year, in June we are observing a slowdown in the inflation rate." Nikolai Snopkov also noted that by the end of the first half of the current year, a slowdown in GDP growth to 11% is projected, which is 1.5 percentage points lower than in January-May of this year. "This is due to the government's efforts to curb domestic demand," he explained. According to the head of the Ministry of Economy, economic growth in the country is currently ensured with some deterioration in qualitative indicators. "Thus, the labor productivity growth rate, according to forecast estimates for the first half of the year, will be 10.7%, which is 1.3 percentage points less than for the 5 months," the minister said. A decrease in the energy intensity of GDP for the half-year is expected to be within 7-8%. In industrial production, growth is estimated at 10.5-10.7%. "In agricultural production, we estimate growth at around 3% with a decrease in sales profitability to date to 2%," Nikolai Snopkov informed. He explained that this is due to the seasonal reduction in production volumes, as well as the increase in the cost of imported protein feeds. In foreign trade in goods and services, the first half of the year is characterized by a continued trend of improvement, the minister emphasized. The growth of the negative foreign trade balance has slowed down quite sharply. This indicator for January-May of this year amounted to $3.9 billion. "For 5 months of 2011, for the first time in several years, the export growth rate exceeded the import growth rate by 4.5 percentage points," the head of the Ministry of Economy stated. He noted that this was a result of the measures being implemented by the government in the current economic situation. At the same time, a slowdown in growth rates is expected in the investment sphere. "The growth rate of investment in fixed assets will decrease to 122-123%," said Nikolai Snopkov. "This is due to the measures taken by the government to balance domestic demand and limit lending under state programs." High growth rates are expected to continue in the consumer market. "Retail trade turnover growth is estimated at 20-21%," Nikolai Snopkov summarized.-0-