Washington, Sep 18 (DPA) The world economy is beginning to turn around after its first recession in decades, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Thursday.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said poor countries have done a better job than expected of weathering the global economic storm, but will still need massive aid to curb its worst effects. He credited governments with shoring up the IMF's ability to help out those facing chronic budget shortfalls.

"This policy response, coupled with the dawning of a global recovery, leads me to be hopeful," Strauss-Kahn told the Washington-based Centre for Global Development. "But low-income countries remain highly vulnerable and financing needs remain great, so we cannot be complacent."

Strauss-Kahn said solid fiscal reforms over the last decade have allowed poorer regions to survive better than in past downturns. But the world's poor would still need about $55 billion in financing from abroad by the end of 2010 to ease the burden.

The IMF's lending resources were tripled to $750 billion during the last Group of 20 summit in London in April. Strauss-Kahn said the IMF could now provide one-third of the funds poor countries need, but "donors also need to play their part".

The World Bank Wednesday said the economic crisis will push nearly 90 million more people into extreme poverty by the end of 2010.

The financial crisis, which originated in industrial nations like the US, last year pushed the world into its first recession since World War II.