The global recession may be ending and a recovery could emerge next year, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on Thursday.

"The freefall in the global economy may be starting to abate, with a recovery emerging in 2010," said Strauss-Kahn in a speech at the National Press Club.

But "this depends crucially on the right policies being adopted today," he noted.

He urged all countries to act together and immediately adopt policies aimed at ending the recession.

"Of course, the solutions differ by country, but there must be a coherent and coordinated response by the international community," said the chief of the 185-member IMF.

Strauss-Kahn said "2009 will almost certainly be an awful year -- we expect global growth to enter deeply negative territory."

"It originated in advanced economies, and spread like wildfire across the world," he said. "This is a truly global crisis, and nobody is escaping."

At the G20 summit earlier this month in London, leaders from rich countries and emerging market nations focused on urgent actions needed to restore growth and on what must be done to repair some of the underlying problems that caused the world crisis.

Strauss-Kahn said he was happy the G20 leaders had made progress on "three urgent priorities" -- the financial sector reform, fiscal stimulus, and financial support.

To fix the financial sector is essential to get the global economy moving again, he said. "Until this is done, attempts to restore demand are likely to falter."

The IMF has been recommending, as early as January 2008, a 2 percent of GDP discretionary loosening for countries that have the fiscal space to do so, according to the chief.

"Countries have largely delivered in 2009," he said. "But efforts need to be sustained in 2010, because we are not out of the woods just yet."

He also stressed that urgent actions should be taken on the financing front, "especially to alleviate pressures on emerging markets, to help them overcome the economic and social costs of the crisis."

"This is the area where the G20 was boldest, agreeing to triple the IMF's lending capacity to an unprecedented US$750 billion," and "to at least double its concessional resources for lending to low-income countries."

"We now have the resources to make a difference," said Strauss-Kahn.

The chief's remarks on the current global crisis came a few days before the IMF holds its spring meetings with the World Bank on April 25-26 in Washington.

(Xinhua News Agency April 17, 2009)