Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Jan 31

    Here are news stories, press 
repors and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Wednesday. 
     
    GOVERNMENT MEETING 
    The government will hold a regular weekly meeting. The 
cabinet is expected to vote on a nominee for a central bank 
vice-governor. 
     
    C.BANK HOLDS RATES, IN NO RUSH TO CUT 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) left interest rates unchanged 
for the fourth consecutive month on Tuesday and signalled it 
would not rush to ease policy despite an improved inflation 
outlook. 
    [nL30425463] [RTRS-CEN-INT-PLCY-SK] 
     
    C.BANK VOTED ON RATE CUT, MAJORITY AGAINST 
    The Slovak central bank's board voted on a proposal to cut 
interest rates by 25 basis points on Tuesday but a majority was 
in favour of no change, Governor Ivan Sramko said. 
    [nPRG000214] [RTRS-CEN-PLCY-INT-SK] 
     
    CBANK BOUGHT EUR 495 MLN IN DEC INTERVENTION 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) said on Tuesday it bought 495 
million euros in December direct intervention aimed at curbing 
the crown's strength. 
    [nPRG000217] [RTRS-CEN-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    CROWN STEADY VS EURO AFTER C.BANK STAYS PUT 
    The Slovak crown was little changed against the euro on 
Tuesday after the central bank (NBS) left interest rates on hold 
for the fourth month in a row, and dealers saw it moving without 
a clear trend in the short term. 
    [nL30220462] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    CBANK ACCEPTS ALL BIDS IN REPO TENDER 
    The Slovak central bank (NBS) accepted all bids made in a 
regular two-week repo tender on Tuesday, after leaving banks 
with excess liquidity for the previous four weeks to cap the 
crown's rise. 
    [nL30402890] [RTRS-CEN-INT-MMT-SK] 
     
    JAN-NOV C/A GAP WIDENS Y/Y TO SKK 121 BLN 
    Slovakia's current account showed a preliminary deficit of 
121.3 billion crowns ($4.45 billion) for the first 11 months of 
2006, up from an 82.96 billion gap the previous year, the 
central bank said on Tuesday. 
    [nPRG000216] [RTRS-TRD-ECI-MCE-SK] 
     
    END-OCT FOREIGN DEBT WIDENS TO $30.46 BLN 
    Slovakia's gross foreign debt edged up to $30.459 billion at 
the end of October from $29.336 billion at the end of September, 
the central bank said on Tuesday. 
    [nL30621601] [RTRS-GVD-DBT-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    AUSTRIAN AIRLINES PULLS OUT FROM SLOVAK AIRLINES 
    Austrian Airlines  said it had pulled out from the 
Slovak Airlines, which subsequently halted all regular flights. 
Austrian Airlines' move came after the Slovak government failed 
to assume debts of the Slovak airliner. 
    Sme, page 7 
     
    ORCO TO INVEST 100 MLN EURO IN SLOVAKIA 
    Real estate developer Orco Property Group  said it 
would invest 100 million euro ($129.6 million) in Slovakia's 
capital Bratislava to build offices and apartments. 
    Pravda, page 1 
     
    DOCTORS' WAGES SEEN UP FROM JULY 
    Healthcare Minister Ivan Valentovic said the ministry had 
proposed to raise wages of doctors and nurses by 9 percent from 
July. Doctors' Union has recently criticised the government for 
not meeting a promise of a 30 percent wage increase. 
    Pravda, page 3 
     
    EURO PLENIPOTENTIARY 
    The cabinet of Prime Minister Robert Fico is expected to 
name central bank spokesman Igor Barat as its plenipotentiary 
for euro adoption. 
    Hospodarske Noviny, page 5 
     
    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=27.27 Slovak Crown) 
 ($1=.7717 Euro) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]