Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Dec 20

    Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Wednesday. 
     
    C.BANK HOLDS POLICY MEETING 
    The central bank will hold its monthly policy meeting. 
Analysts expect no change in the key two-week repo rate. The 
bank traditionally announces the rate decision before noon. The 
news conference is scheduled for 1200 GMT. 
     
    REGULAR GOVT MEETING 
    The government holds its weekly meeting (0900 GMT). 
Ministers are expected to debate a proposal for a new central 
bank board member. 
     
    CURRENT ACCOUNT 
    The central bank will release preliminary current account 
data for January-October. 
     
    FOREIGN DEBT 
    The central bank will release end-September gross foreign 
debt data. 
     
    CROWN REBOUNDS FROM ONE-WEEK LOW VS EURO 
    The Slovak crown erased early losses against the euro on 
Tuesday, rebounding from a one-week low of 35.030, and dealers 
said low, pre-holiday liquidity will keep the unit volatile in 
the short run. 
    [ID:nL19329306] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    C.BANK REPO DRAINS SKK 117.3 BLN FROM MKT 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) accepted all bids at its 
regular two-week repo tender on Tuesday, draining 117.320 
billion Slovak crowns ($4.41 billion) from the money market, NBS 
data showed. 
    [ID:nL19234576] [RTRS-CEN-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    SLOVAKS SIGNS $34 MLN DEAL WITH ERICSSON 
    Slovakia picked Swedish telecom equipment maker Ericsson 
 as software and hardware provider for a project of 
securing the country's eastern border with Ukraine in a project 
worth 900 million crown ($33.87 million). 
     
    CBANK SPOKESMAN EURO PLENIPOTENTIARY 
    Central bank spokesman Igor Barat should become the new 
government plenipotentiary for euro adoption, the daily Pravda 
reports. 
    Pravda, page 11 
     
    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) 
 ($1=26.57 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]