HANOI, May 20, 2009 (AFP) - Vietnam's lawmakers should lower the country's economic growth target to around five percent in the face of the economic slowdown, a senior official said Wednesday.

The government asked the National Assembly to agree to reduce this year's target from the previous goal of 6.5 percent, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Sinh Hung said at the opening of the legislature.

A lower target is required "to create momentum for better and more sustainable development in the following years," he said, urging legislators to make the economy's health their top priority.

Vietnam's economy expanded by 6.18 percent last year, its lowest level in almost a decade, and Hanoi said first-quarter growth was 3.1 percent, the lowest on record.

But Vietnam was one of the few countries with positive growth in the first quarter of the year while the world's major economies battled recession.

Hung said the global financial and economic crisis is difficult to forecast and continues to have a negative impact on Vietnam.

"Our difficulties remain numerous", he said, although "there have been signs that we have got out of the most difficult period".

The global downturn has hurt Vietnam's exports, tourist arrivals, and private sector investment, Hung said.

The World Bank has estimated 5.5 percent growth for Vietnam this year.