BRATISLAVA, May 16 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Friday.
SRAMKO AT EURO CONFERENCE
Central bank governor Ivan Sramko will address a euro adoption conference, 0800 GMT.
C.BANK RESERVES
The central bank will publish weekly foreign currency reserves data, 1200 GMT.
SMER BOARD MEETING
The executive board of Prime Minister Robert Fico's Smer party will meet in the central Slovak town of Krupina to debate current political issues, 1800 GMT.
PM SAYS ECONOMY CAN COPE WITH STRONGER CROWN
The Slovak economy can cope with a stronger currency, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday, driving the crown to a new record amid preparations to negotiate the rate for swaping crowns for euros next year.
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CROWN HITS NEW RECORD AFTER PM COMMENTS
The Slovak crown rose to an all-time high on Thursday for the seventh consecutive session, after Prime Minister Robert Fico said the economy could cope with more currency gains.
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Q1 GDP BEATS FORECASTS, APRIL INFLATION UP
Slovak economic growth slowed in the first quarter of 2008, data showed on Thursday, but the annual expansion of 8.7 was faster than expected thanks to strong exports and household spending.
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APRIL EU-NORM CPI ABOVE FCAST
Slovak EU-norm consumer prices rose by 0.3 percent on the month in April, putting the annual inflation rate at 3.7 percent, the Slovak Statistics Office said on Thursday .
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C.BANK: APRIL EU-NORM INFLATION ABOVE FCAST
Slovakia's annual EU-norm inflation accelerated slightly above the central bank's forecast in April, mainly due to a faster-than-expected increase in food prices, the central bank (NBS) said on Thursday.
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PRESS DIGEST
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HUNGARIAN PARTY ROW
The internal row within the ethnic Hungarian SMK party is intensifying as the leader Pal Csaky continues to clash with some senior officials, including former Chairman Bela Bular. Csaky said Bugar had ties to Oskar Vilagi, the CEO of refiner Slovanft.
Sme, page 1
WHIRLPOOL SLOVAKIA
Whirlpool Slovakia, a unit of the world's biggest appliance company Whirlpool Corp. <WHR.N>, said it expected revenues of 10 billion crowns ($490 million) in 2008, compared with an estimated 12 billion crowns in 2007.
Sme, page 6
BORDER CONTROLS
Austria will introduce temporary controls at borders with Slovakia between June 2 and July 1 due to the European soccer Championship.
Pravda, page 4
AXA SLOVAKIA LOSS
The private pension fund Axa Slovakia, a unit of Axa <AXAF.PA>, reported a loss of 133.4 million crowns for 2007.
Sme, page 8
LABOUR MARKET TIGHTENING
Slovakia faces a risk of running out of workers in a five-year period, the Bratislava-based Institute for Employment said.
Sme, page 7
SHIN HEUNG PLANT
South Korean Shin Heung Precision, one of key suppliers of Sony <6758.T> and Samsung Electronics <005930.KS>, said it planned to invest 200 million crowns to build a plant in Slovakia.
Hospodarske Noviny, page 11
Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it vouch for their accuracy
News editor of the day: Peter Laca, +421 2 5341 8402; fax +421 2 5341 8403
E-mail: editorial@reuters.sk
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