The head of the International Monetary Fund says the global economy appears to be recovering from recession but the crisis is not yet over.
'Financial conditions have improved and the growth engine seems to be starting up again,' Dominique Strauss-Kahn said in a speech in New York.
The IMF managing director noted that the 186-nation institution had devoted much of its resources to fighting the global financial crisis and the worst economic slump since the Great Depression.
Recalling the 'outright panic' that followed the collapse of Wall Street investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008, Strauss-Kahn said that at the time 'economic activity began a downward spiral'.
Fears of another Great Depression 'were not unfounded', he told the Global Creative Leadership Summit, a meeting of heads of state, business and international institution leaders and Nobel laureates. 'The crisis is not over, but I hope the worst is now behind us. We seem to have averted disaster,' he said.
The IMF chief underscored that the fund was projecting a global recovery in the 'first part' of 2010. The IMF is scheduled to publish updated world economic forecasts on October 1.
Strauss-Kahn's speech came on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly and ahead of the two-day meeting of leaders of the G20 developed and developing countries that opens on Thursday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Hosted by US President Barack Obama, the G20 leaders are expected to discuss their unprecedented efforts to stem the economic efforts, reform of the financial system and climate change.
