Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Aug 15

...   The government will hold its regular weekly meeting, 0800 
GMT. 
     
    SDKU NEWS CONFERENCE 
    The strongest opposition party party SDKU will hold a news 
conference on Labour Minister Viera Tomanova activities, 0730 
GMT. 
     
    GDP GROWTH ACCELERATES IN Q2, SEEN HEALTHY 
    Slovak economic growth accelerated in the second quarter to 
confirm the country as the fastest expanding in central Europe, 
and analysts said the growth was healthy and not inflationary. 
    [ID:nL14691551] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
    [ID:nL14328534] 
     
    CBANK DRAINS SKK 124.7 BLN IN REPO TENDER 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) accepted all bids in a regular 
two-week repo tender on Tuesday, draining 124.706 billion crowns 
($5.10 billion) from the market, NBS data showed. 
    [ID:nL1427507] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    SLOVAKIA RECALL MINTAL FOR FRANCE FRIENDLY 
    Nuremberg striker Marek Mintal, who had been sidelined with 
a series of foot and knee injuries, was named on Tuesday in a 
26-man Slovakia squad for next week's friendly international 
against France. 
    [ID:nL14303322] [RTRS-SOCC-SPO-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    LOWER VAT ON BOOKS 
    The Culture Ministry said it has reached a preliminary 
agreement with the Finance Ministry to cut the value added tax 
(VAT) on books from 19 to 10 percent, affective next year. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    CHANGES TO PENSION SYSTEM 
    The government's legislative council recommended that 
ministers adopt the Social Ministry's proposals to change the 
pension system by raising social insurance and other 
contributions and boosting the state's income. The central bank 
said the ministry's proposal was unacceptable. 
    Sme, page 7 
     
    TELEFONICA TO LAUNCH OWN NETWORK IN SEPTEMBER 
    Telefonica O2 Slovakia said it will launch its own network, 
with 400 base-stations, in September in line with license 
conditions. It plans to double the number of base-stations by 
the autumn of next year. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 4 
     
    For news on upcoming events in the United States and other 
Group of Seven countries, see . For a diary of 
`forthcoming Slovak events, double click [SK/DIARY], and a 
calendar of east European economic indicators, see [CONV/DIARY]. 
     
    News editor of the day: Peter Laca on +421 2 5341 8402; fax: 
+421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
    For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
    Warsaw WIG20   Budapest BUX   Prague PX50 
 
 Other related news: 
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE] 
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D] 
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX] 
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG] 
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX] 
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX] 
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG] 
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST] 
  
  
 ($1=24.47 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]