The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development says prospects for economic recovery next year have improved for the first time in two years.
The OECD said on Wednesday the slowdown is close to bottom and its 30 members should return to modest growth of 0.7% next year.
A previous forecast was for a contraction of 0.1%.
Meanwhile, in the latest move aimed at getting liquidity flowing and softening the impact of the crisis, the European Central Bank has lent banks 442.24 billion euros at a flat rate of 1% for one year.
