The International Monetary Fund's chief has warned of a global recession. But managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said the world economy could begin to recover in late 2009 or early 2010 after 'a very difficult year'.
Mr Strauss-Kahn said declining growth in emerging countries such as China would not make up for recessions in developed countries.
China's economic growth could slip to 5% or 6% from the 9.7% forecast by the IMF for 2008 and 8.5% in 2009, he told a symposium in Madrid organised by the Bank of Spain.
'The most urgent need is a big foot on the accelerator of fiscal expenditure,' he said. The IMF last month forecast that advanced economies would contract next year for the first time since World War II and called for government spending to battle the global financial crisis. It lowered its global economic growth forecast by 0.8 points to 2.2%.
