UPDATE 2-Eurostat ups Slovak deficit, euro entry on track

(adds Slovak FinMin quote, Greek reaction, updates market)

By Peter Laca and Jan Strupczewski

BRUSSELS/BRATISLAVA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Slovakia was told by the European Union's statistics office on Monday to include more items in its public finances, but analysts said the changes were less than feared and should not impact euro entry in 2009.

In a revision of debt and deficit data for all the EU's 27 member states, Eurostat said Slovakia had a deficit of 3.7 percent of gross domestic product last year rather than the previously reported 3.4 percent.

The Slovak Statistics Office added that Eurostat also recommended Slovakia begin including state television and radio in public finances, but there was mention of the debts of the state highway company to the relief of some analysts.

"The methodology change does not have major impact on expected fiscal data for 2007," said Finance Ministry spokesman Miroslav Smal. "Even if the highway company was included, the deficit would still meet the (euro zone entry) condition."

Negotiations between Slovakia and Eurostat, the EU's statistical service, on budget methodology are closely followed by the markets as some investors feared they could lead to a higher deficit and endanger the plan to adopt the euro in 2009.

Slovakia must bring the budget gap below 3 percent this year to qualify, and the Slovak government has said that even with the revision, the shortfall would reach no higher than 2.9 percent this year. "The decision means that it will be much easier to fulfil the budget criteria in 2007 than previously feared," Gyula Toth, an analyst at UniCredit Markets and Investment Banking, said.

Toth said he estimates the changes will put the shortfall at 2.7 percent of GDP.

The Slovak crown weakened slightly after the news as some investors cut their exposure to the currency fearing some further revisions could still be on the cards.

At 1045 GMT, the crown was at 33.615 against the euro <EURSKK=D2>, comapred with 33.550 earlier in the session.

Eurostat also said that Greece, which revised up its GDP figures for past years, saw its debt-to-GDP ratio fall 9.3 percentage points to 95.3 percent last year.

The downward debt revisions were even bigger at 9.5 percent for 2005, and 9.9 percent for 2004 and 2003.

The Greek budget deficit also fell as a result of the GDP revision and stood at 2.5 percent of gross domestic product last year, 0.1 percentage point lower than previously reported.

"The accurate depiction of GDP data helps us better plan economic policy," the head of the Greek Statistics Service, Manolis Kontopyrakis, told Reuters. "The revision was not aimed at reducing deficit and debt to GDP ratios. It was aimed at better reflecting the country's wealth." ((Reporting by Peter Laca, Jan Strupczewski, Lefteris Papadimas, Writing by Alan Crosby; editing by Gerrard Raven; Reuters Messaging: peter.laca.reuters.com@reuters.net; +421 2 5341 8402))

Keywords: SLOVAKIA BUDGET/EUROSTAT