Slovak crown down on emrg mkt mood, Eurostat helps

    BRATISLAVA, Oct 22 (Reuters) - The Slovak crown slid against 
the euro on Monday as the mood on emerging markets turned 
sourer, but positive news about how the budget deficit is to be 
recalculated helped to limit the losses, dealers said. 
    The crown fell as low as 33.710 per euro on Monday, 
recovering later to trade at 33.590 <EURSKK=> as of 1420 GMT. It 
was at 33.495 late on Friday. 
    The market had eagerly awaited information about how 
Eurostat wanted the way the budget deficit is worked out 
changed, and some investors had feared it could push the fiscal 
deficit too high for Slovakia to qualify for euro adoption in 
2009. 
    But a Eurostat report said on Monday Slovakia should include 
state television and radio in public finances, leaving the 
bigger debt of the state highway company out of the statistics. 
    "Eurostat's long-awaited decision on the budget methodology 
will have no major impact on this year's budget projection and 
hence Slovakia looks set to comply with all Maastricht criteria 
when they are up for evaluation in spring next year," said 
Anders Svendsen, an analyst with Nordea. 
    The Slovak Finance Ministry said it expected the fiscal gap 
not to exceed the target ceiling of 2.9 percent of gross 
domestic product this year even after the budget recalculation. 
    "I understand Eurostat's comment as a reason to believe that 
Slovakia's chances to enter the euro zone are very high," local 
agency SITA quoted Deputy Finance Minister Frantisek Palko as 
saying. 
----------------MARKET SNAPSHOT 1420 GMT ---------------------- 
crown/euro   <EURSKK=> 33.590 vs 33.495 on Friday (-0.28) 
crown/dollar <SKK=>    23.714 bid vs 23.400 (-1.32) 
5-yr govt bond due March 2012 <SK5YT=RR> at 4.545/4.395 pct 
10-yr govt bond due April 2017 <SK10YT=RR> at 4.746/4.609 pct 
------------------------------------------------------------- 
 ((Reporting by Martin Santa; writing by Peter Laca, editing by 
Gerrard Raven; Reuters Messaging: 
martin.santa.reuters.com@reuters.net; + 421 5341 8402)) 
  
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  Keywords: MARKETS SLOVAKIA CROWN/AFTERNOON