Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Oct 18

    BRATISLAVA, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Wednesday. 
     
    REGULAR GOVERNMENT MEETING 
    The government will hold ist regular weekly meeting. 
     
    FICO MEETS IMF'S TAKATOSHI KATO 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico will meet Deputy Managing 
Director of the International Monetary Fund, Takatoshi Kato. 
(1230 GMT) 
     
    MOODY'S UPS SLOVAK RATINGS, BOOSTS GOVT CREDIBILITY 
    Moody's Investors Service raised Slovakia's debt ratings on 
Tuesday in recognition of its reform drive and sound economic 
growth, which analysts said boosted credibility of the new 
leftist government. 
     
    CROWN HITS RECORD HIGH ON RATING UPGRADE 
    The Slovak crown <EURSKK=> firmed on Tuesday to a new 
all-time high of 36.720 per euro on the strength of a ratings 
upgrade, dealers said. 
    [ID:nL17394959] [RTRS-MMT-FRX] 
     
    CPI BELOW FORECAST, JOBLESS AT RECORD LOW 
    Slovak inflation was slightly lower than expected in 
September due to cheaper transport and telecommunications, data 
showed on Tuesday, but analysts said the central bank was still 
likely to tighten monetary policy. 
    [ID:nL17759717] [RTRS-MCE-ECI] 
     
    C.BANK SAYS SEPT EU-NORM CPI BELOW FCAST 
    Slovak September EU-norm inflation (HICP) was below the 
central bank's (NBS) expectations, the NBS said in a statement 
on Tuesday. 
    [ID:nPRG000104] [RTRS-ECI-CEN] 
     
    SLOVAKIA SEEKS $68 MLN IN TELECOM DIVIDENDS 
    The Slovak government is seeking 2 billion crowns ($68.1 
million) in dividends from the 2005 and 2006 earnings of 
dominant fixed-line operator Slovak Telekom (ST), a minister 
said on Tuesday. 
    [ID:nL17788979] [RTRS-TEL-DIV] 
     
    SEPT JOBLESS FALLS TO RECORD LOW 9.75 PCT 
    Slovakia's unemployment rate fell to a record low of 9.75 
percent in September, from 9.85 percent in the previous month, 
data released by the National Labour Office showed on Tuesday. 
    [ID:nL16513112] [RTRS-MCE-JOB] 
     
    CBANK REPO DRAINS SKK 128.6 BLN FROM MKT 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) accepted all bids in its 
regular two-week repo tender on Tuesday, draining 128.605 
billion crowns ($4.38 billion) from the money market, NBS data 
showed. 
    [ID:nL17778734] [RTRS-MMT-CEN] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    FICO EYES NEW C.BANK VICE-GOVERNOR 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico is considering proposing his 
advisor Stefan Veselovsky to the post of a central bank 
vice-governor, the daily Sme reports. Fico's spokeswoman said 
the report was wrong. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    ARBITRATION RISKS 
    The TwoOne consortium, led by Vienna airport operator 
Flughafen Wien, is expected to sue Slovakia at the International 
Arbitration Court if the government cancels the sale of the 
Bratislava airport to the group, the daily Pravda reports. 
    Pravda, page 1 
     
    For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the ed 
States and other Group of Seven countries, see <G7TODAY>. For a 
diary of forthcoming Slovak events, double click [SK/DIARY], and 
for 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: reuters@editorial.sk 
    Reuters Messaging: martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net 
     
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets: 
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX50 <.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] 
 ((Bratislava Newsroom; Email: editorial@reuters.sk; 
+421-905-602-847)) 
 ($1=29.37 Slovak Crown)