Vietnam targets 6.5 pct GDP growth in 2010-report

HANOI, Nov 6 - Vietnam's government is targeting economic growth of 6.5 percent in 2010, up from the 5.2 percent expected this year, the official Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday.

The government's target was approved on Friday by the National Assembly, the parliament, which also aimed to keep annual inflation next year at 7 percent, the report said.

Exports in 2010 are projected to rise more than 6 percent from this year, the agency said, citing a resolution on Vietnam's socio-economic development plan for next year, passed by the parliament in a session closed to foreign media.

The government has forecast exports would fall nearly 10 percent this year as the main markets for Vietnamese goods in the United States, the European Union and Japan have been hit by the global economic recession.

On Wednesday the World Bank also forecast Vietnam's gross domestic product would grow 6.5 percent next year, second only to China in developing East Asia. It forecast Vietnamese growth of 5.5 percent for 2009.