The economy had expanded by 8.16 percent over the first nine months of the year, the highest rate compared with similar periods since 1998, an official said.

If growth over the rest of 2007 was more than nine percent, then economic expansion over the year “would be at 8.4 and 8.5 percent, reaching the set target,” Do Manh Hung, the General Statistics Office’s chief, said in a statement.

Vietnam has set an economic growth target of 8.2 percent to 8.5 percent this year, compared with 8.2 percent last year. Consumer prices rose by 7.5 percent over the nine-month period.

About 2.2 million people out of a population of 84 million did not have sufficient food between January and September, the statement said.

The number of poor households accounted for 14.75 percent of the population, mostly in the northern mountainous and central highlands areas, it added.

The World Bank last month hailed Vietnam’s fight against poverty as a success story but also urged reforms as the communist country aims for middle-income status.

Vietnam’s once war shattered command economy is now often described as an emerging tiger, with poverty down sharply from nearly 60 percent of the population in the early 1990s.

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