Oct 30 (Reuters) - Erste Group on Monday said its operating profit nearly doubled in the first nine months of 2023, boosted by a spike in net interest income.

The Austrian lender reported an operating profit of 4.18 billion euros ($4.41 billion) in the January-September period, compared with 2.89 billion in the same period last year.

Erste Group, a key player in the banking sector in many Central and Eastern European countries, has continued to benefit from high interest rates and low unemployment across the region.

Its net interest income, a key metric for banks, reached 5.42 billion euros in the nine-month period, up by nearly a quarter from last year. ($1 = 0.9473 euros) (Reporting by Tristan Veyet and Paolo Laudani in Gdansk; editing by Milla Nissi)