Leading Stories in Vietnam Newspapers by Reuters

May 9 (Reuters) – These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:

VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW

— Further tightened monetary policy has put additional pressure on the government with regard to its ability to issue bonds, and recently increased coupon rates were not high enough to attract buyers, industry officials said.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

— The State Treasury will auction three-year and five-year government bonds, each to raise 1 trillion dong ($48.6 million), on May 12 on the Hanoi stock exchange.

— Pjico, the insurance arm of Vietnam’s top oil product importer Petrolimex, said its net profit last year jumped 40 percent from 2009 to 63.18 billion dong ($3.07 million).

THANH NIEN

— Shareholders in Western Bank have approved a plan to raise the bank’s total assets this year by 150 percent to 25 trillion dong ($1.21 billion).

LAO DONG

— Vietnamese television cable firm VTC said it would invest 800 billion dong ($38.85 million) in EVN Telecom, the telecoms arm of state utility Vietnam Electricity group.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

— Black-market dollar transaction have dried up in Ho Chi Minh City as the exchange rate is below that offered by banks. Shops and supermarkets have begun to refuse to accept dollars.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

— There is a rising number of M&A deals taking place in real estate due to a lack of cash, said expert Troy Griffiths of Savills Vietnam.

HANOI MOI

— Vietnam’s state budget expenditures in the first four months rose 19 percent from a year ago to an estimated 238.9 trillion dong ($11.59 billion), the Finance Ministry said.

LAO DONG

— Laos would delay the construction of Xayaburi hydropower dam, Laos Prime Minister Thoongsing Thammavong told Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in Jakarta.

TUOI TRE

— If Vietnamese pepper farmers can control their sales, they could indirectly help keep prices high not only at home but also on global markets as Vietnam accounts for 30 percent of global pepper output, the Vietnam Pepper Association said.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

— Vietnam’s sugar stockpile at the end of April rose 37.2 percent from the same time last year to 530,000 tonnes, making it hard for domestic sales, the Vietnam Sugar and Cane Association said.

DAU TU

— As of May 4 Vietnamese exporters had contracted to ship nearly 4 million tonnes of rice for the first half of this year, the Vietnam Food Association said, forecasting annual shipments of up to 6.5 million tonnes.

— Ho Chi Minh City-based Asia Commercial Bank reported a huge gold stock after the central bank restricted gold transactions and banned raising and lending in gold, Chief Executive Ly Xuan Hai said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/09/vietnam-press-idUSL3E7G904S20110509