HANOI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories.

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FINANCIAL NEWS:

SAIGON GIAI PHONG

-- The State Bank of Vietnam has asked banks to report real estate loans during the first 10 months of this year and also their forecast of bad debt at the year-end as well as by the end of June 2009.

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TUOI TRE

-- Banks would charge a minimum fee of 1,000 dong (6 U.S. cents) on each transaction via automated teller machines from January 1, 2009, said Vietnam Bank Card Association chairwoman Nguyen Thu Ha.

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THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM

-- Vietnam's footwear exports are expected to bring in $660 million in the last two months of this year, taking the annual revenue to $4.4 billion.

-- State-run Vietinbank said it has cut dong interest rates on short-term loans to 15 percent and lowered medium- and long-term loans to 16.5 percent.

-- Members of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers have had to reduce output by 30-40 percent, and some even halved their capacity due to the global financial crisis, Vice Chairman Ngo Phuoc Hau said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:

VIETNAM NEWS

-- Vietnam's garment industry plans to improve production and distribution systems to expand its market share, now at 30 percent, with 70 percent of the market held by small family businesses and imported products, including 20 percent taken by China, industry officials said.

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NHAN DAN

-- Dengue and red-eye disease have been spreading in the capital Hanoi following record flooding two weeks ago, doctors said.

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QUAN DOI NHAN DAN

-- Floods from heavy rains late last week have killed at least eight people in the central province of Khanh Hoa.

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LAO DONG

-- The Czech cabinet has told the embassy in Hanoi to stop granting entry visas for Vietnamese people until the end of this year due to rising crime among the Vietnamese community in the Czech Republic and illegal visa transactions, Czech news agency CTK reported.

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TUOI TRE

-- Vietnam has a ratio of 112 boys for 100 girls, the General Department of Population said on Monday, and an estimated 2 million men may not be able to find a spouse in 2025.

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THANH NIEN

-- High inflation plus good bank interest rates have prevented the insurance sector's expansion this year, officials said. Ten life insurance firms signed more than 600,700 new policies in the first half of 2008, up just 6.6 percent from the same period last year, compared with annual growth of 29.7 percent in the whole of 2007.

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