IMF SAYS CRISIS NOT OVER URGES SUSTAINED STIMULUS

       Strauss-Kahn calls on G-20 leaders to maintain efforts to pull the world economy out of recession
       International Monetary Fund managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn called on leaders from the Group of 20 nations to maintain efforts to pull the world economy out of a recession, warning that the crisis isn't over.
       "This recovery will be rather sluggish, at an average lower than growth we had before the crisis," Strauss-Kahn said in an interview in Washington before the G-20 summit begins today in Pittsburgh. "It's too early to say the crisis is behind us."
       'ADDRESS TRADE IMBALANCES'
       The IMF chief also urged policy makers to seize the opportunity to address imbalances in trade and investment flows blamed for contributing to the credit collapse. Giving China a bigger role in the fund will help bolster cooperation, he said, as policy makers seek agreement to pare US borrowing and buttress domestic demand in nations with trade surpluses.
       "A failure to rebalance the global economy would cause any recovery to be ultimately doomed," said Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered in London. "Aiming for a balanced world economy is a win-win situation."
       Leaders from the G-20, which groups the largest developed and developing nations, gather tomorrow for their two-day summit in Pittburgh. Formed out of the Asian financial crisis, G-20 meetings were elevated to the heads-of-government level in November.
       Suddenly, we're in a better position to have this kind of cooperation and economic coordination than we were before," Strauss-Kahn said. The G-20 talks are a chance to "fix the way we work together governing globalisation, and it may work."
       FIRST SIGNS OF GROWTH: GETIHNER
       US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said at a press conference on Tuesday that G-20 leaders will "take stock of where we are in putting the world on a path to stronger, more sustainable, more balanced growth". The goals include a stronger financial system that's better able to absorb shocks, he said.
       "We're now seeing the first signs of growth" and "the financial markets have improved considerably," Giethner said. "We want to make sure we build on the progress that we've achieved."
       UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed Geithner's sentiment, telling reporters in London that "what we want to do is safeguard a recovery from a recession" and that "the stimulus that we have still got to give the world economy is greater than the stimulus we have already had."
       Strauss-Kahn said the US can do its part by boosting the country's savings rate and reducing its budget deficit, and China can contribute by fostering domestic demand, which would have the effect of revaluing its currency, the yuan.
       BIGGER ROLE FOR CHINA
       China may be more willing to cooperate when it gets a bigger role at the IMF, which leaders are expected to announce by calling for a shift in voting rights that would favour emerging markets, he said.
       "The Chinese know they're becoming a big player, they want to be considered a big player, and if they're considered a big player they will behave as a big player," Strauss-Khan said.
       While the global economy is susceptible to a "double-dip" recession, Strauss-Khan said that isn't the "most probable" scenario.
       Banks still have "a lot to do" to clean balance sheets, said Strauss-Kahn, 60.
       Meanwhile, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said banks may need to cut their size or increase their capital reserves in response to regulatory changes being considered by the G-20.