IMF: Asia need to wait for sustained economic recovery

Special Report: Global Financial Crisis

SINGAPORE, May 6 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said here on Wednesday that a sustained economic recovery in Asia will have to wait.

The IMF has forecast that the global economy won't recover before the middle of 2010, and the economy in the whole of Asia will grow 1.3 percent this year before expanding 4.3 percent in 2010.

The IMF said that in order for Asia to return to pre-crisis growth rates, the region may need to rebalance growth away from exports and toward domestic demand.

Authorities will need to maintain foreign exchange liquidity, and where necessary draw on the IMF's new flexible credit line, which provides qualified countries with upfront assistance with no attached policy conditions, said the IMF.

Speaking at an industry event here on Wednesday, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's deputy managing director Ong Chong Tee said that the prospects for Asia in the near term remain uncertain, but adding that Asia's fundamentals remain sound, helped by financial institutions' limited exposure to troubled assets and households' higher level of savings.