A top European central banker on Wednesday cautioned against optimism that the global economy will recover soon, saying the situation is far from true.

The market should not read too much into slight improvements in some economic indicators when in fact there were still immense challenges such as access to credit, Nout Wellink, president of the central bank of the Netherlands, said in his keynote address at the Asia Regional Forum on Policy and Regulation of Financial Inclusion.

"Challenges in this area (global financial system) are just as relevant as they were last November, maybe they are even more relevant nowadays," he said.

Although the crisis may have left the microfinancing institutions relatively unaffected but they were also experiencing increased pressure, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 6, 2009)