Slovakia - Factors To Watch on May 19

                                
 BRATISLAVA, May 19 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press
reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial
markets on Wednesday.
                                
 
                                
 GOVERNMENT MEETING
                                
 Government will hold its regular weekly meeting, no major
economic items on agenda, the European Central Bank Governing
Council member Jozef Makuch will not attend the meeting.
                                
 
                                
 CONVENTION OF CITIES AND MUNICIPALITIES
                                
 Representatives of cities and municipalities will hold a
convention, Prime Minister Robert Fico and Mikulas Dzurinda,
ex-prime minister and head of strongest opposition party SDKU
will attend and address the meeting.
                                
 
                                
 CROATIA'S JOSIPOVIC VISIT
                                
 Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic will start a two-day visit
to Slovakia, news conference with Slovak counterpart Ivan
gasparovic at 1345 GMT.
                                
 
                                
 FITCH AFFIRMS SLOVAKIA AT 'A+', OUTLOOK STABLE
                                
 Slovakia has weathered the global financial crisis
relatively well to date, due to the low risk profile of the
banking sector, a lack of macroeconomic imbalances, and a
reasonably good fiscal starting position, as well as the
beneficial impact of the European car scrappage schemes.
                                
 [ID:nWNA1500] related news [RTRS-SK-EUROPE-AAA-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 JOBLESS RATE DIPS TO 12.52 PCT IN APRIL
                                
 Slovakia's unemployment rate <SKUNR=ECI> dipped to 12.52
percent in April from 12.88 percent in March, the National
Labour Office said on Tuesday.
                                
 [ID:nPRG004141] related news [RTRS-MCE-ECI-JOB-SK-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 INFLATION ABOVE FCASTS IN APRIL
                                
 Slovak EU-norm consumer prices rose by 0.4 percent on the
month in April, putting the annual inflation rate at 0.7
percent, the Statistics Office said on Tuesday.
                                
 [ID:nLDE64H0CL] re;ated enws [RTRS-MCE-ECI-SK-LEN]
                                
 
                                
 DEXIA SAYS SLOVAKIAN COURT GIVES SUBSIDIARY DEXIA BANKA
SLOVENSKO 138 MILLION EURO FINE
                                
 Dexia SA <DEXI.BR> said court in Bratislava ordered
subsidiary Dexia Banka Slovensko to pay 138 million euros
regarding a claim introduced by a professional client in 2008.
The bank said will appeal against the judgement.
                                
 [ID:nWEA2685] related news [RTRS-BANK-FIN-EUROPE-SK-LEN]
                                
 
========================= PRESS DIGEST =========================
                                
 
                                
 SITUATION IN SOME FLOODED AREAS IMPROVING
                                
 Situation in some of the flooded areas has improved, but
emergency alerts issues for eastern Slovak and some northern
regions remain in place.
                                
 Sme, page 3
                                
 
                                
 News editor of the day: Martin Santa on +421 2 5341 8402
fax: +421 5341 8403 e-mail: martin.santa@thomsonreuters.com,
martin.santa@thomsonreuters.com, Reuters Messaging:
matin.santa.areuters.com@reuters.net

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]
 (compiled by Martin Santa)