MOSCOW, September 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s EU food imports ban may spur inflation by 2 percentage points, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said in a statement Tuesday.

“As for Russia, the ban will disrupt well-established food import channels, pushing up its import prices and inflation,” the EBRD said.

The bank does not rule out a negative effect of the Russian food embargo on the gross domestic product dynamics because the capacity utilization in the food industry is only 4% lower than the average capacity usage across all sectors of the economy, and a 4% output increase will make for only 15% import replacement.

The sanctions will hit Lithuania most of all EU countries, because imports to Russia account for 2.7% of the national GDP. Norway, Poland and Hungary will suffer as well, while Brazil, Turkey, Belarus, possibly Serbia and China will benefit from the Russian policies, the EBRD said.