Romania's Finance minister Gheorghe Ialomitianu said on Thursday that salaries would certainly rise in 2011. While not providing a figure in this regard, he said the option of a 15% increase can be taken into consideration".

A 15% increase in salaries was mentioned previously as a possibility by Finance ministry state secretary Gheorghe Gherghina.

Gherghina said on Tuesday that the Romanian state must lay off 26,000 employees during September-December 2010 in order to reach the level of 1.29 million employees and allow an average 15% raise of salaries in the public sector, which were cut by 25% earlier this year.