OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2011. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has forecast a slowdown in Belarus’ GDP growth from 11% in H1 2011 to 5.5% in December 2011 and further down to 1.5% in 2012, the IMF said in its First Post-Program Monitoring Report published.

“The foreign exchange crisis has affected economic activity and increased inflation. GDP growth is expected to slow down from 11 percent in the first half of the year to 5? percent in 2011 and further to 1? percent in 2012, mainly via a sharp slowdown and a subsequent contraction of domestic demand. Spurred by significant depreciation of the rubel, 12-month rate of inflation reached 43 percent in June 2011 and is expected to accelerate to over 50 percent by the end of the year.”

Belarus’ gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 9.1% on the year in January-August 2011 to 155.1 trillion Belarusian rubles (Br). The consumer price index soared 53.6% in January-August 2011, up from 5.1% in the first eight months of 2010. Belarus’ inflation grew 9.9% in 2010 (10.1% in 2009). The forecast for 2011 stands at 7.5%-8.5%.