“The worst is definitely behind us. But, we are not out of the woods yet. We see a strengthening of economic recovery, but we also see an unevenness in this recovery, unevenness within countries, and unevenness between countries," Youssef Boutros- Ghali, IMFC chairman and Egyptian Minister of Finance, said at a press conference after a meeting of the committee in Washington on April 24.

IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn echoed his view on the same occasion, saying that recovery has been faster in Asia and more sluggish in other parts of the world such as Europe and Japan.

"We will continue to work to phase in country-specific exits from stimulus, recognizing the diverse pace of recovery and potential spillovers across countries and regions," the committee said in a communique issued after its meeting, which is part of the IMF/World Bank spring meetings.

The communique echoed a Friday statement of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors, who said stimulus measures should be maintained in economies where growth is still highly dependent on policy support until the recovery is firmly driven by the private sector and becomes more entrenched.