Slovakia - Factors To Watch on June 24

                                
 BRATISLAVA, June 24 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial
markets on Tuesday.
                                
 
                                
 FICO AT ECONOMY MINISTRY
                                
 Prime Minister Robert Fico will meet Economy Minister
Lubomir Jahnatek as part of his mid-term tour of ministries.
                                
 
                                
 RATE MEETING
                                
 The central bank will hold its monthly monetary policy
meeting. The market widely expects the key two-week repo rate to
stay unchanged at 4.25 percent.
                                
 
                                
 C/A DATA
                                
 The central bank will publish January-April current account
data.
                                
 
                                
 FOREIGN DEBT
                                
 The central bank will publish gross foreign debt data as of
end-March.
                                
 
                                
 REPO TENDER
                                
 The central bank will hold a regular two-week repo tender.

                                
 SLOVAK PM BACKS FINANCE MINISTER POCIATEK
                                
 Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico backed Finance Minister
Jan Pociatek on Monday and rejected his offer to resign amid
allegations of a leak of information about currency revaluation
last month.
                                
 [ID:nL23539357] [RTRS-SK-POL-PLCY-GVD-DBT]
                                
 
                                
 SLOVAK CBANKER SAYS OUTSIDE FACTORS DRIVE INFLATION
                                
 Slovak inflation is fuelled mainly by external cost factors
while pressure from domestic demand is not a major driver of
price growth yet, Slovak central bank (NBS) Governor Ivan Sramko
said.
                                
 [ID:nL23475824] [RTRS-SK-CEN-FRX-MMT-PLCY]
                                
 
                                
 SLOVAKIA SELLS SKK 1.1 BLN WORTH OF 3-YR BONDS
                                
 Slovakia sold 1.1 billion crowns ($56.32 million) worth of
3-year, zero-coupon state bonds <SK010411209=> in an auction on
Monday, the Finance Ministry's Debt and Liquidity Management
Agency said.
                                
 [ID:nL23212196] [SK-ISU-DBT-GVD]
                                
 
                                
 PRESS DIGEST
                                
 ------------
                                
 HIGHER HARVEST
                                
 Slovak farmers expect grain harvest to be 10-15 percent
higher this year compared with 2007, but they warn it is too
early to say whether this will lead to a decline in food prices.
Farmers say food costs will remain influenced mainly global
price trends.
                                
 Sme, page 7
                                
 
                                
 INVESTORS CUT SPP DIRECTOR POWERS
                                
 Foreign investors have reduced powers of the general
director of gas company SPP, making the post more symbolic.
Investors holding 49 percent and management control in SPP, Gas
de France and E.ON, have so far failed to agree  with a junior
government party HZDS on the new general director.
                                
 Pravda, page 1
                                
 
                                
 HIGHWAY TENDERS DELAY
                                
 The government tenders to chose partners for highway
construction under the public-private partnership scheme face
more delays as investors need more time to assess the terrain
for their bid calculations.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 1
                                
 
                                
 WOOD FIRM CANCELS INVESTMENT PLAN
                                
 Austria's wood processing firm Feldbacher Holzverarbeitungs
has cancelled a plan to build a plant for around one billion
crowns in eastern Slovakia after it had failed to find enough
wood suppliers.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 13
                                
 
                                
 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy
                                
 
                                
 News editor of the day: Peter Laca on +420 224 190 477; fax:
+420 224 229 935
                                
 E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk,
martin.santa@thomsonreuters.com
                                
 For real-time index quotes, double click in brackets:
                                
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX50
<.PX50>
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