Slovakia - Factors To Watch on Sept 3

                                
 BRATISLAVA, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial
markets on Wednesday.
                                
 
                                
 Q2 GDP GROWTH
                                
 The Statistics Office will publish final Q2/08 gross
domestic product (GDP) data, 0700 GMT. Flash estimate, released
in August was 7.6 percent.
                                
 
                                
 ECONOMY FORECASTS
                                
 The Statistics Office will publish its quarterly update of
GDP and inflation forecasts, 0700 GMT.
                                
 
                                
 REAL WAGE DATA
                                
 The Statistics Office will publish Q2/08 real wages data,
0700 GMT.
                                
 
                                
 RETAIL SALES
                                
 The Statistics Office will publish July retail sales data,
0700 GMT. Analysts forecast retail sales rose by 4.9 percent in
July.
                                
 
                                
 GOVERNMENT MEETING
                                
 The government will hold its regular weekly meeting in the
center Slovak town of Banska Stiavnicam, 0800 GMT.
                                
 
                                
 COALITION CONFIRMS 2009 FISCAL TARGET
                                
 Leaders of Slovakia's ruling coalition opened talks on the
2009 state budget on Tuesday, and said they would stick to a
fiscal gap goal of 1.7 percent of  gross domestic product (GDP)
proposed by the finance ministry.
                                
 [ID:nL2680566] [RTRS-GVD-DBT-POL-SK-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 BUDGET SWINGS INTO SURPLUS IN AUG
                                
 The Slovak central state budget showed a surplus of 5.084
billion crowns ($246 million) for January-August, compared with
a surplus of 402 million in the same period of 2007, the Finance
Ministry said on Tuesday.
                                
 [ID:nL2300972] [RTRS-GVD-DBT-SK-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 C.BANK DRAINS SKK 142.9 BLN IN REPO TENDER
                                
 The Slovak central bank (NBS) accepted all bids in a regular
two-week repo tender on Tuesday, draining 142.973 billion crowns
($6.84 billion) from the market, NBS data showed.
                                
 [ID:nL2699162] [RTRS-INT-CEN-MMT-SK-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 PRESS DIGEST
                                
 ------------
                                
 PRICE GROWTH
                                
 Prime Minister Robert Fico praised measures, adopted by his
social-oriented government, for preventing prices of goods and
services, as well as energy prices from sharp hikes ahead of the
euro adoption in January.
                                
 Sme, page 8
                                
 
                                
 NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE
                                
 Justice Minister Stefan Harabin will face a no-confidence
vote in the Parliament on Thursday, initiated by opposition
deputies. Coalition said it may obstruct the vote, adding it
could challenge security clearance of some opposition deputies.
                                
 Pravda, page 1
                                
 
                                
 Reuters has not verified the media reports, nor does it
vouch for their accuracy
                                
 
                                
 News editor of the day: Martin Santa on +421 2 5341 8402;
fax: +421 2 5341 8403
                                
 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>
 Other related news:
 Slovak equities      [SK-E]  E.Europe equities           [.CEE]
 Slovak money         [SK-M]  Czech debt                  [CZ-D]
 Slovak Indicators  [SK-ECI]  Emerging forex          [EMRG/FRX]
 Eastern European     [EEU]   All emerging markets        [EMRG]
 Hot stocks           [HOT]   Stock markets                [STX]
 Market debt news     [DBT]   Forex news                   [FRX]
 TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets                         [TOP/EMRG]
 TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch                        [TOP/EAST]