HANOI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Friday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

TUOI TRE

-- Investors' expectations of stock market growth should not be too high as the economy will need five or six months more to recover, said Le Xuan Nghia, Head of the State Bank of Vietnam's Banking Strategy Development Department.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- The Textile Finance Company has secured the central bank's permit to raise its capital base to 234 billion dong ($14 million).

-- The Japan International Cooperation Agency has pledged to provide technical cooperation to boost capacity of the State Bank of Vietnam.

-- Vietnam Electricity group's investment in external projects accounts for nearly 3 percent of its equity, said Deputy General Director Dinh Quang Tri.

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ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

NHAN DAN

-- About 37,000 people have suffered from dengue fever so far this year, and 33 have died from the disease, the Health Ministry said.

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SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- Car ownership will rise to about 50 units per 1,000 people by 2025 from just eight per 1,000 people now, the Industry and Trade Ministry said.

-- Ho Chi Minh City government said it aimed to implement real estate projects including hotels and financial centres worth a total $10 billion in 2009.

-- More than 50 silk producers have established the Vietnam Silk Association to promote production and exports of the products.

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THANH NIEN

-- Vietnam has completed the first phase of testing the vaccine against the H5N1 bird flu virus on humans with good results, as all the 30 volunteers did not show any serious side effects, said doctor Doan Huy Hau, head of the Epidemiology Department of the Military Medical Academy.

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TUOI TRE

-- Ho Chi Minh City authorities have sacked their chief inspector Nguyen Duc An for lack of responsibility as he detected but did not follow closely the punishment of many facilities that produced soybean sauce that contained a carcinogenic substance.

-- A man salvaged 56 cluster bombs on a river at a outter district of Hanoi while picking up drift wood on Thursday.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- A subsidiary under state-run firm PV Oil has secured a licence to invest $80 million in an ethanol processing plant in the northern province of Phu Tho, which would produce 100,000 cubic metres a year starting from the last quarter of 2009.

-- Vietnam aims to keep unchanged 4 million hectares of land for rice crops by 2010 that would help produce 36.5 million tonnes of paddy a year, according to a draft of the national food security strategy by 2020 discussed at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday.

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DAU TU

-- Disbursement of foreign invested projects in Vietnam is now forecast to rise to $11 billion this year from $10 billion as projected in June, the Planning and Investment Ministry said.

- - - - (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom)

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