IMF Sees Faster World Economic Recovery

Washington, DC, Oct. 1, 2009--The global economy is recovering faster than expected, according to the International Monetary Fund.

However, it cautioned that governments should be careful to not scale back stimulus measures too soon.

According to the twice-a-year World Economic Outlook, the world is poised to grow by 3.1 percent in 2010 with much of the recovery driven by emerging economies.

That is up from the 2.5 percent in the IMF's previous set of estimates. And for 2009, the IMF now expects a 1.1 percent decline of global GDP instead of the 1.4 percent contraction it predicted in July.

The IMF also said that uncertain growth in the developed world could soon put governments in a predicament between keeping their stimulus spending going, or cutting it back to stop runaway debt and deficits.

"The recovery has started, financial markets are healing and in most countries growth will be positive for the rest of the year as well as in 2010," Olivier Blanchard, the IMF's economic counselor, told reporters in a press briefing following the release of the World Economic Outlook.