Prospects for global economic recovery remain unclear as the impact of global financial crisis goes on spreading at present, world public opinions have indicated. On the eve of a second G20 summit for April 2 in London, countries around the globe are expecting that the imminent summit will provide an opportunity for a wide-ranging exchange of views in a bid to step up cooperation to respond to the crisis.

A recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) notes that some financial firms have shown some resilience with their positive profit forecasts since early March this year. So, there are signs of credit market thaw along with more substantial government bailouts that have been on the way.

Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, said investors are underestimating the potential for a return to economic growth and that the world may be approaching a turning point. "We have a number of elements suggesting that we're approaching the moment when we're having a pick up," Trichet said at a press conference in Basel on March 9, underscoring that there are positive signs that the Treasury bailout will improve the quality of U.S. credit.

Dr. Hong Pingfan, the chief of global economic monitoring at the UN department of economic and social affairs in New York, acknowledged that the speed heading for the deterioration of global financial crisis has somewhat slowed down. Government bailouts, together with other measures, may eventually stabilize financial markets and curb economic recession. Dr. Hong predicted with optimism that the financial crisis could bottom out in the second half of 2009 and a genuine recovery could start in 2010.

Countries worldwide, however, are now facing a "synchronized" recession and its root cause rests with the crisis occurring in the financial setup of developed nations, said Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper. The global economy cannot possibly brace a turn for recovery provided the global financial system is not reformed or revamped.

Moreover, Simon Johnson, a senior fellow of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, U.S., said "the world is heading into a severe slump, with declining output in the near term and no clear turnaround in sight." The conduct of monetary policy needs to take into account and he maintained that fast recovery of world economy requires a more transparent monetary policy.

At present, the world is seized with anxiety in face of a fast spreading financial crisis and rapidly contracting globe trade, which pose a threat to global economic recovery and long-term prospects for development, said another ace research fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.

Meanwhile, Mexican Central Bank Governor Guillermo Ortize has predicted weak economic growth this year. Noting that Mexico faces an economic slowdown as the crisis crimps growth in the U.S, the buyer of 80 percent of its exports, he said, the priority in the work of the Mexican government is to rebuild confidence and adjust the economic structure.

"The G20 summit can give scope to a policy-making mechanism and contribute to spur international monetary agencies or institutions to make changes in the light of the present situation," Argentinean President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said.

Economic situation remains grim and stark in the U.S. and financial systems of European nations are yet to normalize, said Susumu Ishihara, president of the Kyushu Railway Co. LTD. What merits particular expectations, he added, is the benign performance of such Asian countries as China and India, which are reportedly attaining positive growth with their robust domestic consumption, and China, in particular, has pushed up economic growth with its massive economic stimulus plan.

By People's Daily Online and contributed by PD resident reporters in the U.S., Japan, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and the UN headquarters in New York