Prolonged Middle East conflict will lead to imbalance in many sectors of global economy, not only in energy - Russian deputy PM

MOSCOW. March 26 (Interfax) - A prolonged conflict in the Middle East will lead to an imbalance in supply in many sectors of the economy, not only in energy, while markets' recovery will take a long time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

"The longer the crisis in the Middle East drags on, the longer it will affect other sectors of the economy, related sectors, and the imbalance that is developing in the world today. This also affects gas chemistry, various other products - fertilizers, plastics, food. This is a chain that will take quite a long time to recover," Novak told reporters on the sidelines of the congress of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

He noted that in certain types of goods on the world market, a deficit is already being observed.

"When it comes to energy markets, we see the closure of certain markets, a deficit in the production of petroleum products, a deficit in liquefied petroleum gas and, accordingly, various products derived from them," Novak said.