Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned world governments against “premature exits from monetary and fiscal policies” despite signs that “the global economy appears to be emerging at last from the worst economic downturn in our lifetimes.”

Predicting that the recovery will be “relatively sluggish” and unemployment is likely to continue to rise through next year, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said, “[P]olicy makers should err on the side of caution when they decide when to exit from their crisis response policies.” After all, he said, global growth has “turned the corner” mainly because of what he called “massive policy support.”

Mr. Strauss-Kahn made the comments in remarks prepared for delivery in Berlin Friday in the Sixth Annual Bundesbank Lecture. A prepared text was released in Washington. The former French finance minister, also said that “the time is right” for policymaker to devise exit strategies. “Failure to clarify and formulate these plans will risk undermining confidence and the recovery process itself,” he said.

The IMF is more optimistic about the global economy than it was just a few months ago. It now expect global growth of slightly less than 3% in 2010, Jörg Decressin, an IMF forecaster, said in Washington earlier this week. That’s up from the IMF’s July estimate of 2.5%.

The IMF chief also said that, despite a consensus that financial regulation and supervision must do better at mitigating systemic risks, “the reform effort is not proceeding as quickly as is necessary to address the problems raised by the crisis.” Among other things, he endorsed proposals for tougher capital requirements for the world’s banks and said they should be crafted to prevent excessive risk taking.

In addition, Mr. Strauss-Kahn predicted that the world will eventually see alternatives to the dollar rise “in stature and international usage,” but predicted change would come “over the coming decade, rather than the coming months.”