Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Feb 19

    Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Monday. 
     
    STATE BOND AUCTION 
    The Debt and Liquidity Management Agency will auction 
19-year, 4.5 percent state bonds on behalf of the finance 
ministry. 
     
    NEW STATS OFFICE HEAD 
    Prime Minister Robert Fico will introduce Ludmila 
Benkovicova to her post of Chairwoman of the Statistics Office. 
     
    C.BANK FOREX RESERVES EDGE UP TO $13.9 BLN 
    The Slovak central bank's (NBS) foreign currency reserves 
edged up to $13.890 billion as of Feb. 14, from $13.799 billion 
one week earlier, the bank said on Friday. 
    [ID:nL16630245] [RTRS-FRX-CEN-SK] 
     
    CROWN HOLDS NEAR 6-WK HIGHS, SEEN STRONGER 
    The Slovak crown moved in a narrow range against the euro 
close to its six-week highs seen earlier this week on Friday, 
and dealers saw room for slight gains in the short run due to a 
positive regional mood. 
    [ID:nL16214529] [RTRS-MMT-FRX-SK] 
     
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    GABCIKOVO CONTRACT 
    Slovakia could end up paying as much as 50 billion crowns 
($1.91 billion) to Italy's Enel  if the government 
cancels the contract under which Slovenske Elektrarne (SE), 
owned by Enel, uses a hydro power plant Gabcikovo, lawyers said. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    PRESIDENT SLAMS SMK 
    President Ivan Gasparovic has slammed officials of the 
ethnic Hungarian SMK party for their criticism of the Slovak 
government at the European Parliament. SMK has criticised the 
Slovak cabinet for cuts in subsidies for the Hungarian minority. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    SLOVAKS TROOPS GO TO KANDAHAR 
    Slovakia is expected to redeploy its troops to Afghanistan's 
southern province of Kandahar from the capital Kabul. The 
government is expected to approve the move on Wednesday. 
    Pravda, page 1 
     
    PSA HIRES FOR NEW MODEL 
    The Slovak unit of French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen 
 has begun hiring new employees for the production of a 
new model. The plant is expected to start producing the new 
model by 2010. 
    Pravda, page 1 
     
    For news on upcoming events in the 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: 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: 
editorial@reuters.sk; +421-2-5341-8402)) 
 ($1=26.18 Slovak Crown) 
 ($1=.7621 Euro) 
  

[BRATISLAVA/Reuters/Finance.cz]