Vienna  - The world economy will grow slightly in 2009, Luxembourg premier and euro group chief Jean-Claude Juncker predicted Friday, one day after the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the global recovery could last more than three years.

Instead of choosing the path of massive lay-offs, European economies should "look trustingly to the year 2010, which will see a recovery, if only a slight one," Juncker told reporters in Vienna after meeting Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann.

European stimulus programmes, which Juncker said account for between 3.4 and 3.7 per cent of the European Union's gross national product, would show effects next year.

However, the uptick depended on whether the problem of bad assets that plague financial institutions would be brought under control, said the premier who currently presides over the group of countries using the Euro.

The IMF said in its latest report that although some major economies begin to show signs of stabilizing, the global economy could remain sluggish well beyond the current year.(dpa)