HANOI - VIETNAM'S economic growth slowed down this year to its weakest pace in almost a decade after being buffetted first by soaring prices and then the global financial crisis.

The government's statistics office estimated on Wednesday that growth cooled to 6.23 per cent in 2008, the lowest since 1999, from 8.5 per cent in 2007.

The figure from the statistics office was already reported last week by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung after a cabinet meeting.

The global crisis has already forced major economies, such as the United States, Japan and the euro zone into recession.

In Asia, trade-dependent Singapore and Hong Kong are also in recession.

'In the context of a global financial crisis and economic downturns in many countries our expansion is relatively high thanks to our immense efforts,' the stats office said in an emailed statement.

The government put the brakes on the economy earlier in the year when inflation skyrocketed off the back of soaring prices for raw materials, forcing the trade deficit to widen to a record gap.

But it has now adopted aggressive measures to cushion growth from the impact of the global economic meltdown.

The statistics office also estimated on Wednesday that the country's 2008 trade deficit was $17.5 billion (S$25.2 billion), revising a $17 billion (S$24.5 billion) figure reported by the government last week.

Imports in 2008 were estimated to have jumped 28.3 per cent from 2007 to $80.42 billion, instead of $79.92 billion previously reported, the office said in a report.

Exports this year were seen up 29.5 per cent at $62.91 billion, unchanged from the estimate last week, the report said.

Meanwhile, industrial output slowed, particularly in the state sector.

Total industrial output growth slowed down to 14.6 per cent in 2008 from 17.1 per cent in 2007, while state-sector output growth eased to 4 per cent from 10.3 per cent last year, the stats office estimated.

December's output rose 11.8 per cent from a year earlier, almost half the annual pace seen in December 2007 of 20.7 per cent, while state-sector output growth slumped to 2.6 per cent from 12.9 per cent. -- THOMSON REUTERS