The Vietnamese government has targeted gross domestic product (GDP) growth of some 8.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2006 in order to

gain an economic growth of 8.2 percent this year, local media reported Tuesday.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in a monthly cabinet meeting on Monday, called for greater efforts to achieve the GDP growth of 8. 4 percent in the three remaining months of this year, Youth newspaper reported.

The country's economic growth in the first three quarters stood at 7.84 percent, while the figure was 8.12 percent in the same period last year, said the report.

Dung urged more efforts to foster the growth of industry, services, seafood and crude oil production, and keep a close eye on price changes to put forth timely measures on containing price hikes in the domestic market in the fourth quarter.

According to a report by the Trade Ministry at the meeting, the prices of some essential goods, including foodstuff, urea, construction steel, paper and certain kinds of medicines, are expected to rise slightly in the three-month period.

The prime minister also asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to keep on preventing the reoccurrence of bird flu outbreaks and combating foot-and-mouth disease.

Vietnam's GDP grew 8.43 percent to 53 billion U.S. dollars or GDP per capita of 640 dollars last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office.

Source: Xinhua