PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Aug 18
HANOI, Aug 18 (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.
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FINANCIAL NEWS:
VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW
-- Limited lending while receiving major boost in deposits has left large Vietnamese banks with loads of cash.
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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- Partly private SeABank is scheduled to officially announce Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) as its foreign strategic shareholder on Thursday.
-- Vietcombank was allowed to provide a maximum loan of $426 million to member companies of Petrolimex, the State Bank of Vietnam said.
-- The State Securities Commission has approved partly private Eximbank's issue of more than 12 million shares to foreign strategic investors.
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DAU TU CHUNG KHOAN
-- The Vietnam Association of Financial Investors has proposed share offers by public companies must be underwritten.
ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS
-- The government has asked southern provincial authorities to immediately identify potential landslide areas and evacuate people after Mekong waters have surpassed the first warning level.
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VIETNAM INVESTMENT REVIEW
-- South Korea has pledged to grant Vietnam $1 billion in preferential loans for 2008-2011, becoming the country's second-largest official development assistance provider after Japan.
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HANOI MOI
-- Hundreds of Christians, many of the children, gathered at a yard in Hanoi they claimed as belongs to Thai Ha Church, gathered for a service in Sunday and many stayed on for a night camping. The land claim has been rejected by the authorities.
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SAIGON GIAI PHONG
-- Seasonal floods on the Mekong river are forecast to rise to the second alarm level on Aug 20.
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LAO DONG
-- A total of 137 families living in the extended area of Hanoi still have no access to national electricity grid. The city mayor has ordered the Hanoi Power Company to bring electricity to them by October. Hanoi has been enlarged since Aug 1 by taking the whole of Ha Tay province and part of Hoa Binh province.
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THANH NIEN
-- Villagers in 500 communes in 10 provinces will, for the first time, vote to select their own communal leader as part of a government plan to stop involving in the organisation of the People's Committee at grassroot levels.
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TUOI TRE
-- A stone processing firm in the southern province of Dong Nai, Tin Nghia Dong Nai Co, has begun exporting grave stones to Japan.
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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai has ordered top coal producer Vinacomin to keep selling prices unchanged this year for buyers including power plants, cement makers, paper and fertiliser producers.
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