Australia leads global economic recovery

By Washington correspondent Kim Landers

Updated 30 minutes ago

World-beater: The IMF has lavished praise on Australia's economy (ABC News: Gary Rivett)

A new report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Australia is one of the leaders as the global economy recovers from a severe recession.

The news comes as Treasurer Wayne Swan heads to the USA to attend meetings at the IMF and the World Bank.

In its twice-yearly report on the world economy, the IMF says recovery in the major advanced economies will be "sluggish".

But in contrast, the IMF says Australia and the newly industrialised Asian economies are off to a strong start and are likely to stay in the lead.

The IMF now expects Australia's economic growth to reach 3 per cent this year, picking up to 3.5 per cent next year.

It says the growth will be helped by strong demand for commodities, particularly from China.

IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard says the global economy is staggering back to its feet.

"Global recovery has evolved better than we expected; we now forecast global growth to reach 4.2 per cent in 2010," he said.

The IMF also says China's economy will surge 10 per cent and India's will grow by almost 9 per cent, while economic growth in the US will be 3.1 per cent.

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