WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The following are quotes
from world finance officials attending spring meetings of the
International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington.

Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers,
meeting ahead of the weekend IMF/World Bank meetings, on Friday
said economic activity should begin to recover later this year.
However, they said the outlook remained weak and there was a
risk that the global economy may still worsen.
> For a text of the G7 communique, see [ID:nN24515491]
> For a Take a Look of top stories on the G7, G20 and IMF,
World Bank meetings, see [G7/G8]

IMF CHIEF DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN ON 2010 STIMULUS:

"It depends a lot (on) the effectiveness of the stimulus of
2009. It's difficult to define what will be the need for 2010
before having an assessment on the result of what is done in
2009. In turn, it depends on the effort that will be made on
the cleansing of the (bank) balance sheets. If what we ask...
on the side of the banking sector is done, then the result of
the stimulus in 2009 will be very big. And then probably what
is already forecast as a stimulus for 2010 may be enough. In
other cases, it will need more."

STRAUSS-KAHN ON DISAGREEMENTS ON TIMING OF EXIT STRATEGY:

"Unfortunately, it is not the Europeans on one side and the
Americans on the other. That would be too easy."

"It is not so much a different strategy, it is a different
appreciation of the urgency. Those who think that things are
improving, and finally we have more green lights than red
lights, they say it is time to think about exit strategy. Some
others, more concerned by the depth of the crisis today, say
OK, certainly we need to talk about exit strategy, but first
let's talk about what has to be done today."

IMF'S JOHN LIPSKY ON IMF ESTIMATES OF BANK LOSSES

"Those figures refer to write-downs of assets. At the same
time, banks are making profits on their current incomes. So the
whole picture is much more complex to come up with a figure of
what the implication is for the results of the actual banks,
what they might need for recapitalization etc. What we were
estimating was the write-downs from existing assets, which will
be compensated, at least in part, by other activities of the
bank".

IMFC CHAIRMAN YOUSSEF BOUTROS-GHALI

"We have serious problems. We are taking very serious
measures, but things are beginning to look up. Carefully,
cautiously, we can say there is a break in the clouds."

ECB'S CHRISTIAN NOYER ON COMPETITIVE DEVALUATIONS:

"We must avoid strategies of competitive devaluation."

"I think there is a real agreement on that...
We know the Americans are totally on that line."

"I think we have not seen any, that's why I say everyone
agrees."

ECB'S GUY QUADEN ON ECONOMY:

"We are still in a severe recession, but it seems that in
different parts of the world including the euro zone, the
slowdown has begun to moderate and after a dramatic last
quarter of 2008 and a very bad first quarter of 2009 the second
quarter of 2009 could be better -- let's say, less bad.

"We are not at yet at the turning point of economic
activity."

QUADEN ON PROSPECTS FOR MONETARY POLICY:

"The next rendezvous for the Governing Council of the ECB
is on May 7...On that occasion a new cut for our main interest
rate is surely not excluded, it will probably be moderate, but
it would bring our main rate to a new, historically low level.

"We will also discuss and probably decide other
non-conventional measures.

"For the meeting after May -- I am a pragmatic, absolutely
not a dogmatic. My own assessment of what will be most the
appropriate rate and other decisions in the coming months will
depend on the information I will receive.

"I think that the risks for deflation in the euro zone
remain limited, but they exist and they have to be closely
monitored."

ITALIAN CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR MARIO DRAGHI ON DEFLATION:

"The risk the global economy is still facing is one of a
deepening recession. In contrast with past years, there isn't a
risk of inflation, but of deflation, not of a worsening of
economic imbalances, but of deepening economic contraction and
a risk of rising unemployment. These are short-term risks.

"Then, there are long-term risks deriving from higher
public debt. We will have to tackle these long-term risks with
exit strategies."

DRAGHI ON RECOVERY AND TRADE:

"It is too early to say that the worst is behind the global
economy even if there is a long list of macroeconomic
indicators that are less bad than before. There are not signs
yet of an improvement for international trade flows."

DRAGHI ON EXIT STRATEGIES:

"We had a discussion during the IMFC breakfast on exit
strategies. In particular we talked about what to do with the
bank stakes owned by governments... because no-one thinks that
governments could own banks forever. We talked also about the
need to cut public debt, that continues to rise. And we
discussed exit strategies for monetary policies. But the crisis
is still going on, so it is difficult to talk about exit
strategies in detail."

DRAGHI ON IMF ESTIMATES FOR BANKS LOSSES:

"IMF estimates for losses at European banks are very
approximate because it is based on several complex assumptions
and historical data."