The head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Khan, said Friday that "the worse of the economic crisis is probably behind us".

At a press conference in Vienna on Friday, he explained that international institutions and central banks now have a clear picture of the risks to the economy.

"The turnaround in the global economic slowdown could come in October or November this year, but an economic recovery depends on many factors and isn't likely to start for another year", Strauss-Khan said.

He added, though, that there is "a lot of still existing risk to the economy", and warned that a prerequisite of a global economic recovery is that all balance sheets are cleaned up in the financial sector.

"Without clean balance sheets, an economic recovery won't be possible," he said.

Strauss-Khan announced that the IMF could agree new aid deals in Eastern Europe in the coming months, without giving further details.

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