Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Aug 20

                                
 PRAGUE, Aug 20 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial
markets on Friday.
                                
 ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic: GMT + 2 hours)

=========================ECONOMIC DATA=========================
                                
 Real-time economic data releases....................<ECONCZ>
                                
 Previous stories on Czech data.............[CZ-RTRS-LEN-ECI]
                                
 Overview of economic data and forecasts..........<CZ/ECON15>
                                
 Updates on CEE currencies............................[CEE/]
                                
 
=========================TOP NEWS===============================
                                
 NECAS DEFENDS CALL TO CHANGE EU ACCOUNTING RULES: Changing
the European Union's Stability and Growth Pact in a way that
would cut some countries' deficit and debt levels would not
weaken the bloc's fiscal rules, Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas
said on Thursday.
                                
 Story: [ID:nLDE67I10S]  Related news: [RTRS-LEN-CZ-DIP]
                                
 
                                
 PL,HU YIELDS UP: Central European bonds slipped while stocks
rose on Thursday, with currencies hovering in tight ranges after
recent gains as dealers looked to global markets for direction
and awaited the results of a Romanian bond sale.
                                
 Story: [ID:nLDE67I0JV]  Related news: [RTRS-LEN-CZ-MMT]
                                
 
                                
 CEZ TO CUT CAPEX: Czech power group CEZ confirmed it planned
to cut investment spend as it slows foreign expansion, after a
local newspaper report put the potential cuts at over $5
billion.    
                                
 Story: [ID:nLDE67I0TN]  Related news: [RTRS-LEN-CZ-MRG]
=========================PRESS DIGEST==========================
                                
 CZECH PM AGAINST BANK TAX: Prime Minister Petr Necas said on
Thursday, during a visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he
was against an EU-wide bank tax because it could prompt foreign
owners of Czech banks to turn their units into branches. Banks
such as Erste Bank <ERST.VI> and Societe Generale <SOCG.PA>
could move bad assets into the branches.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 8
                                
 
                                
 WAGE CUTS: Labour Minister Jaromir Drabek proposed to cut
most state clerks' wages by 10 percent as of 2011. He plans to
scrap bonuses for the amount of years spent in the office and
boost individual bonuses. The move is aimed to cut budget
spending by 11.4 billion crowns ($590.1 million) next year.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 1
                                
 
                                
 OIL IMPORTS: Oil imports through the German IKL pipeline
rose to 41.8 percent of the total Czech consumption in the first
half of the year from around 30 percent last year. Imports
through the Druzhba pipeline coming from Russia dropped.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 23
                                
 
                                
 EXPORTS TO IRAQ: Czech exports to Iraq rose by 300 percent
in the first half of the year as Czech companies participated in
recovery of the country after war conflicts.
                                
 Hospodarske Noviny, page 7
                                
 
                                
 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy.

                                
 For Instant Views of key economic data click on
                                
[CZ/INSTANT]
 For summary of economic data and forecasts          <CZ/ECON01>
 For diary of forthcoming Czech events                [CZ/DIARY]
 For calendar of east European economic indicators  [CONV/DIARY]
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG]
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST]

 For an economic indicator diary for the euro zone, the United
 States and other Group of Seven countries see         <G7TODAY>

 For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets:
 Warsaw WIG20 <.WIG20>  Budapest BUX <.BUX>  Prague PX <.PX>

                                
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