HANOI, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.5 percent in the first half of this year, compared with 7.91 percent in the same period last year, according to the country's General Statistics Office on Tuesday.

    Vietnam saw growth of 4.5 percent in agricultural production value, 16.5 percent in industrial production value, 16.5 percent in export turnovers, and 30 percent in total retail sales in the first six months of this year. Specifically, the agricultural and industrial production values were 93.1 trillion Vietnamese dong (VND) (5.8 billion U.S. dollars), and over 326.6 trillion VND (20.4billion dollars), respectively.

    Between January and June, Vietnam lured 30.9 billion dollars worth of fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) and 661.2 million dollars worth of additional capital of operational foreign-invested projects, the statistics office said, adding that the country attracted FDI of 21.3 billion dollars in 2007.

    The country, posting economic growth of 8.48 percent last year, as targeted GDP growth of 7 percent this year and 7-7.5 percent next year.