PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - April 10
HANOI, April 10 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Thursday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
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FINANCIAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS
-- Vietnam's top shipping group Vinalines, or Vietnam National Shipping Lines, plans to invest about $3 billion in development through 2010, Chief Executive Mai Van Phuc said.
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TUOI TRE
-- Eximbank has cut its dong loan rates by up to 0.2 percentage point.
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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
-- Vietinbank, the country's third-largest lender in assets, signed a comprehensive cooperation agreement with top shipping firm Vinalines. Vietinbank has offered a credit limit of 1.4 trillion dong ($87.7 million) to Vinalines, the bank's chairman said.
-- HSBC forecast the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange index .VNI would rally to 600 points by the end of 2008.
-- Hong Kong's financial firm Temasia Capital Limited has become the strategic investor of Petrovietnam Insurance Joint Stock Corporation PVI.HN.
-- The State Securities Commission submitted a draft law on foreign share investment regulation.
-- The Hanoi Securities Trading Center will hold an auction to sell 1.5 trillion dong ($94 million) worth of government bonds on April 11 with a nominal annual coupon of 8.5 percent.
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ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS
-- Ho Chi Minh City authorities will spend about $200 million to build an electric tram-car route linking the city centre with its western bus terminal, following an agreement signed on Wednesday with Malaysia's Titanium Management and a Vietnamese firm.
-- Revenues from Vietnam's information technology and electronics consumer market reached $3.1 billion last year, a rise of 29.2 percent from 2006, the GfK Group said in a research.
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NHAN DAN
-- Electricity supply in the second quarter would continue to face pressure as the national system does not have backup capacity, state utility Vietnam Electricity group said.
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QUAN DOI NHAN DAN
-- Vietnam failed to reach three major targets last year, as its annual inflation was higher than economic growth, the agricultural, forestry and fisheries grew slower than projected and fewer provinces completed the secondary school programme than planned, the National Assembly said.
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TUOI TRE
-- Utility group EVN said it would sell energy-saving light bulbs at 10 percent discount to encourage consumers to save power.
