WASHINGTON, April 26 (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
IMF/World Bank meetings, said on Friday 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.

On Saturday, the IMF's steering panel said world finance leaders agreed
there was a "break in the clouds" of the economic storm but said more measures
were needed to ensure an end to the global recession.
> For a story on Sunday's meetings, see [ID:nN26496148]
> 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]

U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY TIMOTHY GEITHNER ON POLICIES FOR ECONOMIC RECOVERY:

"Now that we have achieved unprecedented agreement on the right strategy and
the right set of tools, we need to keep the pressure on to execute quickly and
achieve a lasting, shared recovery.

"The United States will sustain action as long as necessary to see growth
resume, not just nationally but globally -- an objective that is important not
just for our shared prosperity but for our national security."

GEITHNER ON FUNDING BY IMF AND WORLD BANK:

"Going forward, we encourage the World Bank Group to continue to explore
flexible approaches, such as guarantees, to leverage official and private
capital to address development needs."

CHINESE VICE FINANCE MINISTER LI YONG ON COOPERATION:

"The international community needs to work together to prevent the current
crisis from escalating into a development crisis."

"Supporting regional and south-south cooperation among developing countries
is of special significance for alleviating recession pressure from developed
countries and promoting global economic recovery,"

DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF IMF ASIA AND PACIFIC DEPARTMENT KALPANA KOCHHAR ON
GROWTH MODEL:

"In the longer term the prospect of recovery is good, but recovery to what,
in terms of a growth model?"

"The challenge in China will come back to all the different policies that
they've had in place for a long time to spur exports."

INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE DIRECTOR-GENERAL JUAN SOMAVIA ON JOB MARKETS

"We must be aware that the global jobs and social protection crisis
affecting working families and local communities, if left unchecked, can
suddenly become a much larger political crisis. The simmering ferment of a
social recession is there."

VENEZUELA PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT MINISTER JORGE GIORDANI ON WORLD BANK
LENDING FACILITIES

"We are concerned that the lending capacity of the World Bank could be
compromised if the global financial crisis happens to be deeper and lasts
longer than expected.

"The failure of capital markets to allocate resources efficiently and to
support the capacities of the real economy and the productive system has
created the global financial crisis. The implications of this situation suggest
the creation of a new set of instruments for the World Bank Group."

AUSTRALIAN TREASURY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF MACROECONOMIC GROUP, MICHAEL
CALLAGHAN ON QUOTAS

"The legitimacy of the World Bank Group is enhanced when all members -
larger and small, developed and developing - have a say and are able to access
Bank services. It is important
that shareholdings both reflect the economic importance of members and also
protect the interests of smaller states. Making the adjustment to a more modern
representative structure will require developed countries as a group to
surrender relative vote shares."

IMF MANAGING DIRECTOR DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN ON IMF QUOTAS:

"The voice of countries in the fund do not rely so much on the quota share
they have. The voice of some countries is very big, some others are less vocal
just because they are more or less interested in what the fund is doing, more
or less engaged with the fund.

The fact that Brazil is listened to is because Brazil is becoming one of
the big players of the world economy. The role played by President Lula makes
that Brazil has a (more) important role than its quota.

I'm not saying that the changes in quotas are not important. They're very
important to do because the reality of the quota share has to be aligned with
the reality of the economic life. But it doesn't reflect directly. And China,
India, and Brazil are not waiting for that increase of quota to be listened to
in the board of the IMF and I guess in the World Bank."

WORLD BANK PRESIDENT ROBERT ZOELLICK ON POVERTY:

"There is widespread recognition that the world faces an unprecedented
economic crisis, poor people could suffer the most, and that we must continue
to act in real time to prevent a human catastrophe."

(Washington newsroom; 202-898-8310)