Banks are continuing to hide huge losses from investors, imperiling the economic recovery, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was quoted Wednesday as saying. "Large losses remain concealed - 50 percent (of total losses) are perhaps still hidden in the (banks') books," Strauss-Kahn, a former French finance minister, told the daily Le Figaro. "The proportion is greater in Europe than in the United States."

Although he noted that the financial crisis has been "more or less brought under control," Strauss-Kahn warned that "there will not be strong and health (economic) growth without a complete clean-up of banks' accounts." The IMF head said that the economic recovery was solid in Asia, but remained "fragile" elsewhere. "The social crisis remains very severe, especially in developed nations. This is my major worry," he said. Most economic projections foresee unemployment continuing to grow for at least another year in most industrialised nations.