PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - June 26

HANOI, June 26, 2012
 
(Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:
SAIGON GIAI PHONG
- Banks in Vietnam have cut long-term deposit rates to 11-12.5 percent from 14 percent offered two weeks ago, bankers said.

TUOI TRE
- The decline of the monthly consumer price index in June showed lower aggregate demand and falling demand from buyers, economist Le Dang Doanh said.

THANH NIEN
- Several banks have been selling dollars to fund dong loans, but this will add pressure on the foreign exchange rate when the lenders have to buy back dollars to repay clients' deposits, analysts said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS (vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn)
- The government has called on all provinces and relevant agencies to find ways to reduce the number of traffic accidents nationwide, despite the death toll in the first six months dropping 17 percent from a year ago to 4,950.

- Vietnam imported 80,000 tonnes of raw cashew nuts in the first half of this year from Southeast Asian nations, Brazil and India while annual imports of the commodity could rise to 300,000 tonnes as cashew growers switched to higher valued pepper and rubber, causing a domestic shortfall.

NHAN DAN
- The agriculture ministry has asked the trade ministry to tighten inspection over sugar exported in unofficial trade to China due to possible shortages in coming months as domestic output estimated at 1.3 million tonnes this year is below the expected demand of 1.4 million tonnes.

THANH NIEN
- Police said they have arrested two men in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau on accusations of trafficking 25 people to Australia.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- Vietnam's exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products in the first half of this year rose 14.5 percent from a year ago to $13.67 billion, the agriculture ministry said.

- Vietnam's economic growth could expand between 5.5 percent and 6 percent this year, Chairman Phung Quoc Hien of the National Assembly's Financial and Budgetary Committee said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Sunil Nair)