Middle East war economic impact to depend on duration, damage, energy costs, IMF official says

WASHINGTON, March 3 (Reuters) - The Middle East war's impact on the global economy will depend on its duration and damage to infrastructure and industries in the region, particularly whether energy price increases are short-lived or persistent, the International Monetary Fund's number two official said on Tuesday.

IMF First Deputy Managing Director Dan Katz told the Milken Institute Future of Finance conference in Washington that the conflict "certainly has the potential to be very impactful on the global economy across a range of across a range of metrics, whether it's inflation, growth and so on. But it's very early at this point to, you know, have any sort of firm conviction about what the likely impact is going to be."

Katz added that the economic impact will follow from the geopolitical developments and the persistence of the conflict.