(Repeats to add Ifo president's first name)
BERLIN, June 24 (Reuters) - The strikes in east Germany over working hours will damage the region's image as an investment location and discourage firms from setting up there, the president of Germany's Ifo economic institute said on Tuesday.
"The strikes will have an almost catastrophic effect on the east...the dramatic rise in wage costs hurts its attractiveness in the minds of investors," Hans-Werner Sinn told reporters on the sidelines of Ifo's annual press conference in Munich.
German engineering union IG Metall had called out strikes aimed at reducing weekly working hours for workers in eastern Germany from 38 hours to the western norm of 35 hours.
The strikes had brought production to a halt at carmaker BMW and hurt production at Volkswagen .
Sinn said that while the strikes would have a minimal effect on the German economy, it would have a "severe psychological impact" on investors.
"BMW is now regretting its decision to locate its plant in east Germany. It chose Leipzig for patriotic reasons but the Czech Republic would have been cheaper," he said.