Czech Republic - Factors To Watch on Aug 19
PRAGUE, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Czech financial markets on Thursday.
ALL TIMES GMT (Czech Republic summer time: GMT + 2 hours)
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Previous stories on Czech data............. **For a schedule of corporate and economic events:
http://emea1.apps.cp.thomsonreuters.com/Apps/CountryWeb/#/2E/events-overview ** Please note Reuters stories updating economic data releases from central and eastern Europe carry the CEE ECONOMY tag.
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CENTRAL BANK: A debate over whether to accelerate a cycle of interest rate rises will stay high on the Czech central bank's agenda, its Governor said on Wednesday, adding that policymakers gave serious thought to hiking by 50 basis points two weeks ago.
Governor Jiri Rusnok said he was among those who got closer to considering a larger move at the last meeting.
AFGHANISTAN: Prime Minister Andrej Babis, Foreign Minister Jakub Kulhanek and the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan Jiri Baloun will hold a news conference following evacuations of Czech and local workers from Kabul. (1030 GMT)
BONDS: The Czech Finance Ministry sold 200 million euros ($234.26 million) worth of 0.00/27 government bonds at an auction on Wednesday. The ministry had offered up to 100 million euros worth of the domestic bonds denominated in euros.
CEE MARKETS: Hungary's forint recovered losses on Wednesday, grinding higher on continued rate hike expectations before a central bank meeting next week, while shares in Czech utility CEZ scaled an 8-1/2 year peak as wholesale electricity prices rose.
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INVESTMENT INCENTIVES: The Industry Ministry aims to raise the cap on investment incentives to 20% of costs, from 10%, along with some other changes. The newspaper said the changes could help attract investment into a proposed electric vehicle battery plant.
https://archiv.hn.cz/c1-66963770-lakadlo-nejen-pro-gigafactory-cesko-nove-velkym-investorum-zadotuje-az-petinu-nakladu
SKODA AUTO: Skoda Auto is around 60,000 vehicles below its production plan for this year because of chip shortages, according to its labour union chief. The number of unfinished cars is just less than 40,000 at the moment, below a critical level of 50,000.
https://archiv.hn.cz/c1-66963650-padesat-tisic-nedodelanych-skodovek-je-hranice-pak-uz-jde-o-cash-flow-pristi-tyden-obnovime-vyrobu-rika-sef-odboru-povsik
(Reuters has not verified the stories, nor does it vouch for their accuracy)
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E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Prague Newsroom)
