RPT-Vietnam postpones dollar bond issue until Q1 2008

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HANOI, Dec 24 (Reuters) - Vietnam has postponed a plan to sell $1 billion of dollar-denominated sovereign bonds until the first quarter of next year due to strong dollar liquidity at home, a Finance Ministry official said on Monday.

The issue, originally scheduled for October, has been delayed twice.

"There is no immediate plan to change the size of the issue and we aim to sell it early next year," the official said.

Record inflows of dollar from both direct and indirect foreign investment and remittances from Vietnamese living overseas this year have led to strong dollar supply at banks this year.

Foreign direct investments including pledges for new projects are expected at around $20 billion this year while remittances could hit a record of $10 billion, state media reported this week.

The dollar bond issue would be the second sovereign bond for Vietnam, which has seen economic growth of more than 8 percent a year.

The issue is advised by Britain's Barclays (BARC.L), Citigroup Inc (C.N) and Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE).

The Finance Ministry has said the government would lend part of proceeds from the debt to state oil group Petrovietnam to import equipment for the $2.5 billion Dung Quat refinery, the Southeast Asian country's first.