Economies in central and southeastern Europe, the western Balkans, North Africa, and Central Asia could see their post-COVID recovery endangered if Russian gas supply is further disrupted, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a new report on Tuesday. Should gas supplies be further disrupted, for example, output per capita in the EBRD regions in 2022 could be 2.3 per cent lower than the baseline scenario and 2 per cent lower in 2023,” the bank said. If gas supply from Russia is disrupted, “The effects would be largest for EU economies with large dependence on gas in their energy mix, such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and the Slovak Republic, where industry may be directly impacted by gas rationing,” the EBRD said. Russia has already halted natural gas supply to two EU members incentral and southeastern Europe as it insists customers start paying in rubles for its gas. In late April, Gazprom stopped gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria, saying supply was cut off “due to absence of payments in rubles.”By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.comMore Top Reads from Oilprice.com:

Source: The North Africa Journal May 10, 2022 16:30 UTC