Central and southeastern European economies are on course for their strongest year of growth since the global financial crisis, in part due to a surge in wages and stronger demand from the recovering eurozone, according to forecasts from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

The 18 nations in the region, seven of which are eurozone members, suffered a sharp slowdown in the wake of the crisis and that was prolonged by the euro area’s subsequent struggles with government debt and weak banks. As a consequence, for much of the past decade, the expected convergence between incomes in eastern and western Europe has stalled.

But there are signs it has resumed, with the EBRD significantly raising its growth forecast for 2017 and to a lesser degree, for 2018. It now expects Poland’s economy to grow by 4.1% in 2017, having projected an expansion of 3.2% in May. It now expects Romania’s economy to grow by 5.3% in 2017, having previously forecast an expansion of 4%.

In contrast to developed economies, the pickup in growth is driving and in turn being supported by a jump in wages. According to Sergei Guriev, the-EBRD’s chief economist, the region hasn’t lost middle-income jobs to lower wage countries, unlike the U.S. and parts of western Europe.

“In our region it’s somewhat different, especially in parts where we have demographic challenges and outflows of the young and skilled,” he told The Wall Street Journal.