Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Jan 25

    Here are news stories, press 
repors and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Thursday. 
     
    SMER EXECUTIVE BOARD 
    The executive board of Prime Minister Robert Fico's party 
Smer will meet to discuss political agenda for 2007. (1600 GMT) 
     
    SDKU NEWS CONFERENCE 
    The strongest opposition party, SDKU, will hold a news 
conference to react to Prime Minister Robert Fico's intention to 
ban health insurance companies from making profits. 
     
    RATES SEEN ON HOLD IN JAN, CUTS SEEN LATER 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) will probably keep interest 
rates on hold in January, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday, 
but analysts said an improving inflation outlook signalled 
monetary policy easing later in the year. 
    [nL2494859] [RTRS-CEN-INT-PRE-SK] 
     
    SLOVAKIA SAYS TO SUE EU OVER CO2 CAP 
    Slovakia will file a lawsuit against the European Commission 
(EC) over its demand the EU member cut its annual carbon dioxide 
emissions from 2008-2012, Slovak government officials said on 
Wednesday. 
    [nL24913752] [RTRS-ELG-CO2-EU-SK] 
     
    CBANKER: SKK MOVES SHOULD MIRROR ECONOMY 
    Slovak central bank (NBS) Governor Ivan Sramko said on 
Wednesday the crown should move more in line with the economy, 
and the NBS is confident its moves to ease the currency's 
appreciation will hit their mark. 
    [nL24269806] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-CEN-SK] 
     
    TELEFONICA TO LAUNCH SLOVAK SERVICE ON FEB 2 
    Telefonica O2 Slovakia said on Wednesday it will launch 
commercial mobile telephone services in the European Union 
member country on February 2. 
    [nPRG000209] [RTRS-TEL-EMRG-SK] 
     
    PM SAYS TO BAN RISKY PENSION INVESTMENTS 
    The Slovak government will take measures banning pension 
funds from making risky investments to safeguard private pension 
savings, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday. 
    [nL24336426] [RTRS-INS-RTM-EU-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    HEALTH-CARE WATCHDOG LOOSES INDEPENDENCE 
    The independence of the health-care system supervisory body 
has been damaged and the watchdog will come under political 
influence after the government appointed Jan Gajdos, one of 
founders of Prime Minister Fico's party, as its chairman, 
analysts said. 
    Pravda, page 2 
     
    NO CHANGE TO PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS 
    The government does not plan to change the pension 
contribution system which allows people to save half of their 
compulsory payments in personal accounts, Prime Minister Robert 
Fico said. Fico and other government officials had said in the 
past the state might need to cut the amount people can save on 
their accounts to reduce the deficit in the pay-as-you-go 
pension system. 
    Sme, page 9 
     
    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: martin.dokoupil.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: 
editorial@reuters.sk; +421-2-5341-8402)) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]