Slovakia - Factors To Watch on March 2

    BRATISLAVA, March 2 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press 
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial 
markets on Friday. 
     
    FX RESERVES 
    The central bank will publish its weekly foreign curency 
reserves, 2 p.m. (1300 GMT) 
     
    FINMIN SAYS GOVT LAYOFF PLAN MAY HIT SNAG 
    The Slovak government may fail to lay off as many state 
workers as it had planned, the finance ministry said on 
Thursday, in what would be a crack in a cost-saving plan 
designed to free up funds for social spending. 
    [ID:nL01542278] [RTRS-SK-POL-JOB] 
     
    CAR INDUSTRY BOOM SET TO SLOW IN CENTRAL EUROPE 
    Car parts makers from Asia and western Europe will keep 
flowing into central Europe in the coming months, but the 
automotive boom is fading as qualified labour becomes scarce, 
industry executives said on Thursday. 
    [ID:nL01442049] [RTRS-SK-AUT-HU-PL-CZ] 
     
    BUDGET IN DEFICIT, EURO STILL SEEN ON TRACK 
    The Slovak state budget turned to deficit in February on 
smaller tax revenues, but analysts said high economic growth 
would boost income later in the year and keep the country on the 
track to euro adoption. 
     [ID:nL01462894] [RTRS-SK-GVD-DBT] 
 
    DELL SEES POLISH FACTORY ON STREAM IN OCTOBER 
    U.S. computer maker Dell Inc.  said on Thursday it 
expected to launch its new 200 million-euro ($264.3 million) 
factory in Poland by the end of October, two months later than 
previously planned. 
    [ID:nL01455079] [RTRS-SK-PL-HDWR] 
     
    CROWN RECOVERS WITH REGION, LACKS TREND 
    The Slovak crown pared some of this week's losses on 
Thursday thanks to a rebound on emerging markets, but dealers 
said the unit would remain exposed to movements on global 
sentiment in the coming days. 
    [ID:nL01608612] [RTRS-SK-FRX] 
 
    PRESS DIGEST 
    ------------ 
    ARCHBISHOP UNDER PRESSURE 
    Slovak Archbishop Jan Sokol had received money from the 
communist secret police StB, documents published by the Nation's 
Memory Institute showed. Sokol has been under pressure from 
media in the past few weeks for his alleged ties with StB. He 
has denied any knowing collaboration with the secret police. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    UNION POWERS 
    The prepared amendments to labour code will boost powers of 
trade unions, which will be allowed to halt production in 
companies if they think that working conditions endanger 
employees' health. 
    Sme, page 1 
     
    DEFENCE MINISTRY DISPUTE 
    The Slovak National Party (SNS), a junior member of the 
ruling coalition, has attacked Defence Minister Frantisek 
Kasicky, a nominee of Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer party. 
SNS has questioned some purchase tenders conducted by the 
defence ministry. 
    Pravda, page 2 
     
    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=26.08 Slovak Crown)