Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Dec 19

    Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Tuesday. 
     
    C.BANK TO HOLD REGULAR 2-WK REPO TENDER 
    The central bank will hold its regular two-week repo tender. 
    [RTRS-LEN-CZ-CEN] 
     
    SLOVAK PM COMMITTED TO EURO GOAL 
    Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico sees the advantages of 
adopting the euro in 2009 outweighing the disadvantages, the 
Financial Times reported on Tuesday. 
    [ID:nL19158985] [RTRS-EUR-MMT-FRX-EMRG] 
     
    C.BANK SEEN KEEPING RATES ON HOLD 
    The Slovak central bank will probably keep interest rates on 
hold in December as the firming crown currency has tightened 
monetary conditions and fended off inflation risks, a Reuters 
poll showed on Monday. 
    [ID:nL18916465] [RTRS-CEN-INT-PLCY-SK] 
     
    NEW C.BANK CANDIDATE 
    Slovak Central Bank (NBS) Governor Ivan Sramko will propose 
the government to re-appoint Karol Mrva as the eighth member of 
the bank's policy-making board, the SITA news agency said on 
Monday quoting the proposal. 
    [ID:nL1887395] [RTRS-CEN-POL-SK] 
     
    NEW VOLKSWAGEN MODEL AT SLOVAK PLANT 
    Volkswagen , Europe's top carmaker, is considering 
adding a new model to the production range at its Slovak plant 
in 2008 and 2009, the head of the plant said on Monday. 
    [ID:nL18916649] [RTRS-TRD-AUT-SK] 
     
    RECORD SLOVAK GROWTH TO HELP TELEFONICA ENTRY 
    Slovakia's booming economy will help Spain's Telefonica 
 in its battle to win a profitable share of the 
country's mature mobile phone market, analysts said on Monday. 
    [ID:nL18880228] [RTRS-TEL-EUROPE-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    MPG HOLDING TO INVEST $330 MLN IN SLOVAKIA 
    Slovakia's Euro Energy, controlled by Russian MPG Holding, 
plans to invest $330 million to build a silicon-processing 
plant, in a south-eastern Slovak town of Jelsava. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 14 
     
    SLOVAK IT FIRMS LACH PROGRAMMERS 
    Slovakia's IT companies lack qualified programmers, which is 
likely to boost salaries in the sector, even those paid to 
graduate students. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the ed 
States and other Group of Seven countries, see . 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: Alan Crosby on +421 2 5341 8402; 
fax: +421 2 5341 8403 
    E-mail: reuters@editorial.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] 
 ((Bratislava Newsroom; Email: editorial@reuters.sk; 
+421-905-602-847)) 
 ($1=32.04 Dollar) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]