Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Jan 18

    Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Thursday. 
     
    DEC UNEMPLOYMENT DATA 
    The National Labour Office publishes unemployment statistics 
for December at 10:30 a.m. (0930 GMT). 
     
    SARIO NEWS CONFERENCE 
    Slovakia's Investment Agency SARIO holds a news conference 
on 2007 investment projections and 2006 results at 9:30 a.m. 
(0830 GMT). 
     
    SNS NEWS CONFERENCE 
    The Slovak National Party, a junior ruling coalition member, 
holds a news conference at 10 a.m. (0900 GMT). 
     
    BRATISLAVA AIRPORT 
    The Transport Ministry holds a news conference at 10:30 a.m. 
(0930 GMT) to discuss a revamp of the Bratislava international 
airport. 
     
    CBANKER SEES MEETING EURO INFLATION TARGET 
    Slovak central bank board member Karol Mrva said on 
Wednesday he expects the EU member to meet the Maastricht 
Criteria for inflation by the end of 2007, keeping the country 
on target to adopt the euro in 2009. 
    [nL17754090] [RTRS-MMT-PLCY-INT-SK] 
     
    DEC HCPI IN LINE WITH FCASTS, C.BANK TO WAIT 
    Slovak annual EU-harmonised inflation remained steady in 
December, data released on Wednesday showed, leaving the central 
bank (NBS) room to hold off on changing policy as it waits for 
further data. 
    [nL17779202] [RTRS-MCE-CEN-FRX-SK] 
     
    DEC EU-NORM CPI IN LINE WITH FCASTS 
    Slovak consumer prices rose 0.1 percent month-on-month in 
December, according to EU-norm data, putting the annual 
inflation rate at 3.7 percent, data from the Statistics Office 
showed on Wednesday. 
    [nL17742083] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    CROWN SLIPS TO FIVE-WEEK LOWS, SEEN EDGY 
    The Slovak crown broke the technical 35.0 per euro level on 
Wednesday, slipping to its lowest level in five weeks as 
London-based investors exited central European assets. 
    [nL17828646] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    ATTORNEY QUESTIONS TENDER FOR MOBILE PHONE FIRM 
    Bratislava district attorney challenged the victory of 
Spain's Telefonica  in a tender for 
Slovakia's third mobile phone network operating licence. 
Telefonica won the tender in August last year. 
    Sme, page 2 
     
    OPPOSITION LAUNCH CAMPAIGN ON PENSION SYSTEM 
    Opposition party SDKU of ex-Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda 
launched a campaign aimed at protecting the pension system 
reform, to prevent changes to parameters of the private pension 
scheme, which the government said they were thinking of doing. 
    Sme, page 9 
     
    GOVT EYES GAS, ELECTRICITY TAXES CHANGES 
    The Slovak government prepares changes to the gas, 
electricity, coal and coke taxes to comply with the European 
Union's standards. The finance ministry said it did not expected 
a major increase in the tax collection after adjustment. 
    Pravda, page 10 
     
    CHRISTIAN DEMS SEE NO COOPERATION WITH FICO 
    Christian Democrats' (KDH) eventual cooperation with the 
leftist Prime Minister Robert Fico is not on the agenda, KDH's 
Chairman Pavol Hrusovsky said in an interview. Hrusovsky prefers 
ties with rightist parties of the former government. 
    Pravda, page 16 
 
 
    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: bratislava.newsroom@reuters.com 
    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] 
 
 ((Compiled by Martin Santa; Bratislava Newsroom; Email: 
bratislava.newsroom@reuters.com; +421-905-602-847)) 
 ($1=26.93 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]