HANOI, Feb 6 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories. - - - - FINANCIAL NEWS: LAO DONG -- The central bank is drafting a law which requires foreign stock investors to use the Vietnamese dong for transactions. -- A State Securities Commission's preliminary report said only 15 of 51 securities firms surveyed reported a profit last year. -- State-run BIDV is to allocate about 2.8 trillion dong ($165 million), or 16 percent of the total budget of the government's 17 trillion dong stimulus package, to borrowers through loan rate subsidies, Chairman Tran Bac Ha said. - - - - TUOI TRE -- Partly private Asia Commercial Bank <ACB.HN> has projected lending would grow between 70 percent and 80 percent this year, with outstanding loans reaching around 70 trillion dong ($4 billion), CEO Ly Xuan Hai said. -- Banks are boosting consumer lending after the central bank allowed them to lend at negotiable rates. -- Several banks have taken advantage of the government's rate subsidy plan, offering short-term lending rates at 5 percent to 6.5 percent and charging some exporters the lowest possible rate of 1.2 percent per year. - - - - THANH NIEN -- Vietcombank said it would spend 35 trillion dong ($2.6 billion) to lend to household businesses who may enjoy the lowest rate at 6 percent per year. ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS: VIETNAM NEWS -- Vietnam's exports to the United States this year are likely to increase 14.5 percent, commercial counsellor in Washington Ngo Van Thoan said, slowing from a growth of up to 19 percent last year. - - - - SAIGON GIAI PHONG -- Vietnam and Mozambique have signed an agreement to waive entry visas for diplomatic and official passport holders, Hanoi's Foreign Ministry said. -- The Mekong Delta's winter-spring rice crop has been growing well, leading to a forecast of bumper output of between 9 million and 10 million tonnes of paddy this year, said Le Van Banh, head of the Cuu Long (Mekong Delta) Rice Institute. - - - - HANOI MOI -- Vietnam hopes Japan will soon resume its official development assistance to the Southeast Asian country, Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Dung said. - - - - TUOI TRE -- Rice farmers are expected to earn a good profit from higher prices this year thanks to robust export demand, Vietnam Food Association Chairman Truong Thanh Phong said. -- Vietnam will have a hard time meeting a target to send 85,000 workers abroad this year due to the global economic slowdown, Deputy Labour Minister Nguyen Thanh Hoa said. - - - - THANH NIEN -- Two southern provinces, Bac Lieu and Soc Trang, have reported new bird flu outbreaks in ducks in the past week, taking to three the number of provinces hit by the disease in the Mekong Delta, animal health officials said. - - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)
A cholera patient rests inside an ambulance at Mabvuku Polyclinic in Harare February 4, 2009. Zimbabwe's cholera epidemic has killed more than 3,000 people and infected 63,000, according to U.N. figures. ...
