PRESS DIGEST - Vietnam newspapers - May 21

May 21 (Reuters) - These are some of the leading stories in the official Vietnamese press on Monday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

FINANCIAL NEWS:
LAO DONG
- Baoviet Holdings said its consolidated gross profit in the first quarter jumped 81.5 percent from a year ago to 626 billion dong ($30 million), while revenue rose 18.1 percent in the same period to 3.97 trillion dong.
- Lending should not exceed an average monthly growth of 1.5 percent from now to the year end to reach an annual expansion of about 10 percent, which may 50 trillion dong ($2.4 billion) from Vietnam's total socio-economic investment this year, the National Financial Supervisory Committee said.

ECONOMIC AND GENERAL NEWS:
VIETNAM NEWS
- While Vietnam's economy is showing signs of recovery, this year's targeted gross domestic product growth of 6.0-6.5 percent would be difficult to reach, economists said at a forum in Ho Chi Minh City last Friday.
- Vietnam needs about 400,000 tonnes of cotton a year to serve its textile and garment sector, the country's 12,000 hectares (30,000 acres) produce only 5,000 tonnes of the product, industry reports showed.

SAIGON GIAI PHONG
- Vietnam's domestic aviation market served 3.81 million passengers in the first four months of 2012, down 2.3 percent from a year ago, national carrier Vietnam Airlines said.
- Vietnam's Dung Quat oil refinery shutting down for three to four weeks will result in an output fall of around 500,000 tonnes of products, but the refinery will run 5 percent above its capacity after it resumes operation to make up the shortfall, said Chief Executive Nguyen Hoai Giang of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Co that runs the refinery.

THOI BAO KINH TE VIETNAM
- The Finance Ministry could publish a solution to fuel costs on Monday after some importers posted a profit of about 1,000 dong (4.8 U.S. cents) per litre of petrol, a ministry official said. (Reporting by Hanoi Newsroom; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)