The world’s major economies could emerge from recession by the end of this year, boosted by low commodity prices, reduced interest rates and government stimulus packages, said European Central Bank Governing Council member Christian Noyer. “Several factors make us think it’s not unrealistic to imagine pulling out of recession by the end of the year,” Noyer, who is governor of the Bank of France, said in an interview with France Culture radio.

Advanced economies are already in a “depression” and the financial crisis may deepen unless the banking system is fixed, International Monetary Fund Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn said. “The worst cannot be ruled out,” Strauss-Kahn said in Kuala Lumpur, where he was attending a gathering of central bankers from Southeast Asia. “There’s a lot of downside risk.”

Personally I’m with Strauss-Kahn, I think there is massive downside risk out there. Noyer is being over optimistic, but then France is perhaps the least badly affected EU member. Incidentally Strauss-Kahn has also come out in favour of greater eurozone economic coordination, although he doesn’t mention the idea of EU bonds.

Stability in the euro zone will be in danger if governments do not coordinate more closely on economic policy, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was quoted as saying by German weekly Zeit on Wednesday. “The euro zone needs more cooperation on economic policy. Otherwise, differences between states will become too big and the stability of the currency zone is in danger,” IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told Zeit in an interview.

And maybe someone somewhere is listening to him, since Merkel and Sarkozy are about to announce a new initiative. Or could it be that Tremonti’s threat has moved someone somewhere, after all we have no news of any bank bailout in Italy, and then again there is nothing like the prospect of a “systemic” bank failing to concentrate the mind.

Germany and France will present a joint initiative to help Europe better cope with crises like the current economic turbulence, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday. “We will approach the Czech presidency (of the European Union) with a joint initiative by Germany and France on how we can emphasise Europe’s strength in these difficult times,” Merkel told reporters in Munich.