Romania's coalition government will move forward on Thursday with a plan to raise the monthly gross minimum wage by 12.1% to 3,700 lei ($809.29) from July, Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said, three days before local and European elections.

The government will also extend a tax exemption for up to 300 lei of the wage, Ciolacu said, adding the increase will benefit more than 1.8 million employees. ($1 = 4.5719 lei) (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Alan Charlish)