PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - Sept 19

HANOI, Sept 19, 2012

HANOI, Sept 19 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:
LAO DONG
- Hanoi's consumer price index in September rose an estimated 2.47 percent from the last month, a 17-month high, the city's planning and investment department said.

- FPT Corp said Red River Holding would buy 1 million of its shares to raise its FPT stake to nearly 16.5 million shares, or 6.02 percent of the total shares in circulation, between Sept. 21 and Oct. 19.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- The Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange said it has put 24 listed companies on the watch list for poor earnings. The companies include BIDV Securities and Song Da Urban and Industrial Zone Investment and Development Co.

DAU TU
- Small lenders may not meet the central bank's new listing requirements under which they should keep the non-performing loan ratio below 3 percent of the total loans in two consecutive years prior to the listing, bankers said.

- Partly-private lender HD Bank said it has cut lending rates to as low as 9 percent.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS (vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn)
- Upgrading Vietnam's irrigation system to improve its efficiency while reducing electricity and water use by 2020 will require an investment of 20 trillion dong (nearly $1 billion), the agriculture ministry said.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG
- The agriculture ministry has ordered a temporary halt to the transportation of poultry across the provinces of Quang Ngai and Kon Tum to help stop the spread of bird flu in southern provinces, Deputy Director Pham Van Dong of the Animal Health Department said.

LAO DONG
- Nguyen Duc Kien, a founder of Asia Commercial Bank , has been accused of fraudulent appropriation of property, in addition to an earlier charge of intentional wrongdoings that caused serious consequences, investigators said.

- A fifth of steel companies are expected to go bankrupt by the end of the year if no pre-emptive measures are taken, the Vietnam Steel Association said.

TUOI TRE
- Journalists who report corruption cases have the responsibility for supplying information and documents to the authority on request for investigations, according to a draft of the anti-corruption law.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- The Construction Ministry has sought approval from the National Assembly to halve the value added tax for individual buyers of apartments. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Jijo Jacob)