Vietnam may lower its 2009 economic growth forecast to 5 percent after posting its weakest first-quarter expansion in a decade, a report quoted the prime minister as saying Monday.

The National Assembly, Vietnam’s parliament, is to meet in mid-May.

On Friday, official figures revealed Vietnam’s first-quarter growth fell to the lowest level in a decade.

The 3.1-percent growth seen in the first quarter is a “floor level” and the economy should pick up, VnExpress quoted Le Duc Thuy, head of the National Financial Supervision Committee, as saying.

Thuy said gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 5 percent at the end of the year would be good.

Vietnam reported 7.4-percent growth in the first quarter of 2008.

The General Statistics Office has trimmed Vietnam’s full-year 2008 growth figure to 6.18 percent, its lowest level in almost a decade.

Source: AFP