Asian economies are unlikely to experience a sustained recovery until mid-2010, and they cannot rely on China to pull the region out of its current slump, a senior International Monetary Fund official said yesterday.

The words of Joshua Felman, assistant director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific department, cast doubt on a “green shoots” theory that has helped to bolster Asian stock markets. He said that China's relatively strong performance this year would do little to aidits Asian neighbours as most of its growth would come from domestic demand, such as public infrastructure projects, that will not benefit other regional economies.

Instead, most of Asia will have to wait at least another year before advanced western economies recover, said Mr Felman, who was presenting the IMF's latest regional semi-annual report in Singapore.