Romanians' Income Can Hike In Real Terms - Erste Official

Romania remains one of the Central and Eastern European countries in which population's income can increase in real terms, the chief financial officer of Austrian lender Erste Group Bank, Manfred Wimmer, said during a press conference held Monday in Vienna.

Wimmer said Romania would be one of the few countries in which people will have the chance to increase their income in real terms as the economic growth will continue, while salaries are very low even compared with other CEE countries.

As for the human resources policy of Romania's largest lender, Banca Comerciala Romana, or BCR, owned by Erste Bank, Wimmer said they would continue the job cut plan, set up independently from the influence of the current international financial crisis, and will also continue the bank's network development.

Wimmer also said the BCR employees would receive a salary increase below the inflation rate.

BCR employees decided last week to go on strike over pay, then they postponed the strike after receiving a new pay offer from the bank which they would analyze.

In their turn, oil group OMV, insurer Vienna Insurance Group (VIG) and construction materials producer Wienerberger representatives stated that salary negotiations as well as restructuring programs would take place in Romania without being necessarily related to the financial crisis.

Erste Bank owns more than 69% of BCR's shares, while the five Romanian regional investment funds SIFs own a 30.11% stake in the bank.

VIG operates on the Romanian market through insurers Omniasig and Asirom, while Wienerberger owns three brick plants in the country.

Mediafax