In many countries, notably Czech Republic, Romania and Bosnia Herzegovina, around 90 per cent of respondents say that their employees have asked for pay-rises or are likely to do so soon. Anna Zabrodzka-Averianov, Senior Economist at Intrum, believes that demand for higher pay will become increasingly problematic, as employees look to restore the purchasing power that they lost last year. "The risk is that these wage increases add to the inflationary pressure, as companies will transfer at least some of their increased costs to the prices they charge for goods and services," she explains. Many countries expect inflation to last for at least another year - eight in ten Croatians and three quarters of Bulgarians feel this way. However, those in Bosnia Herzegovia, Slovakia and Romania are less pessimistic. Only half (50%) of the Bosnian businesses surveyed expect inflation to last at least a year, followed by 57% of Slovakian and 60% of Romanian firms.