The world economic crisis will last well into 2010 unless the global banking sector is restructured and cleansed of its toxic assets, DPA quoted the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, as warning today in Paris. "If there is no clean-up of the banks, most of the stimulus will be lost," Dominique Strauss-Kahn said, adding: "Things are moving too slowly." "We are still looking for a recovery at the beginning of 2010, but only if the right policies are implemented," Strauss-Kahn said at a press conference opening the OECD Global Forum on Competition in Paris. Fiscal stimulus packages are part of those policies, he said. "But the effectiveness of the fiscal stimulus depends on the restructuring and clean-up of the banking sector," the IMF secretary-general was quoted as saying by DPA. He also warned that 2009 would be a "really bad year," perhaps even worse than most current forecasts.
