HANOI, Vietnam (AP): Vietnam's economy showed signs of improvement in the April-June quarter, growing an estimated 4.5 percent from a year earlier on healthy increases in manufacturing, construction and services, state media reported Friday.

That was up from the 3.1 percent growth mustered in the first quarter, the lowest quarterly rate in a decade.

Official estimates are often released before the end of the quarter.

For the first half, the Southeast Asian country's economy is expected to grow 3.9 percent, and that indicated that the economic slowdown may have bottomed out, according to a report in the Investment newspaper that cited a report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The government has lowered its 2009 growth forecast from 6.5 percent to 5 percent.

Vietnam's economy has expanded an average of 7 percent a year the past decade, but began overheating last year with inflation skyrocketing and the trade deficit ballooning. The economy's growth slowed to 6.2 percent in 2008. (The Associated Press)