Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Jan 29

    Here are news stories, press 
repors and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Monday. 
     
    PENSION SYSTEM DEBATE 
    Government, opposition and independent experts will take 
part in a debate on the future of Slovakia's pension system, 4 
p.m. (1500 GMT). 
     
    LABOUR CODE 
    The Association of Employers will hold a news conference on 
government plans to amend the labour code, 10 a.m. (0900 GMT). 
     
    DEC PPI BELOW FCAST, INT RATES SEEN STEADY 
    Slovak producer prices rose less than expected in December 
thanks to lower energy and raw materials costs, data showed on 
Friday, underlining an improving inflation outlook. 
    [nL26774607] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    DEC PPI BELOW MKT FORECASTS 
    Slovak producer prices fell 0.8 percent month-on-month in 
December, well below market expectations, putting the annual 
inflation rate for factory-gate costs (PPI) at 5.4 percent, data 
showed on Friday. 
    [nL26763039] [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK] 
     
    SLOVAKIA ON TRACK TO TIGHTEN GRIP OVER UTILITIES 
    Slovakia's parliamentary economic committee cleared 
legislation on Friday designed to give the state tighter control 
over energy prices to keep inflation in check ahead of the 
planned euro adoption in 2009. 
    [nL26791110] [RTRS-ENR-ELG-POL-SK] 
     
    CROWN RECOVERS FROM 7-WK LOWS VS EURO 
    The Slovak crown gained 0.7 percent to the euro on Friday, 
recovering from a seven-week low of 35.450 in early trade, but 
dealers expected the unit to ease again ahead of the central 
bank's policy meeting next week. 
    [nL26842835] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    C.BANK FOREX RESERVES EDGE UP TO $14 BLN 
    The Slovak central bank's (NBS) foreign currency reserves 
edged up to $13.995 billion as of Jan. 24, from $13.899 billion 
one week earlier, the bank said on Friday. 
    [nL26808388] [RTRS-CEN-FRX-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    PM PLEDGES TO KEEP PENSION CONTRIBUTIONS 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico has reiterated his pledge to 
maintain the current percentage contribution to private pension 
savings, the so-called second pillar of the country's pension 
system. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    HUET-BAYLINGTON EYES $110 MLN FDI IN SLOVAKIA 
    Swiss Huet-Baylington is still interested in investing 3 
billion crown ($109.7 million) in Slovakia into bio-fuels 
production, daily Sme quoted state investment agency SARIO's 
spokeswoman as saying. 
    Sme, page 5 
     
    T-MOBILE READY TO COMPETE TELEFONICA 
    T-Mobile Slovakia, a unit of Germany's Deutsche Telekom 
, says it is ready to compete with the incoming third 
mobile phone services operator Telefonica O2 Slovakia. 
Telefonica O2 will launch pre-paid commercial services on 
February 2. 
    Pravda, page 11 
     
    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)) 
 ($1=26.91 Slovak Crown) 
 ($1=27.34 Slovak Crown) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]