HANOI, April 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's economic growth is forecast to moderate to seven percent in 2008, and rebound to 8.1 percent in 2009, compared with 8.5 percent in 2007, said the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

    The country's year-average inflation is forecast at 18.3 percent this year, slowing to 10.2 percent next year, the ADB said in the Asian Development Outlook 2008, its annual publication released Wednesday.

    Driven by higher prices of fuel, food and housing, Vietnam's inflation surged to 19.4 percent year-on-year in March, the highest in more than a decade, it said.

    "Effective coordination of various policies including monetary tightening, fiscal consolidation and careful pricing policies is essential to bring the inflation down while the government needs to minimize the distortion and excessive burden on banks and the economy at large," ADB Country Director for Vietnam Ayumi Konishi said at a press briefing here Wednesday.