Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan said most of his Group of 20 (G-20) counterparts see the global recovery as "fragile" and urged Europe to press on with closer financial integration and the United States to cut its budget deficit.

"It's critical that leaders of many major economies now get on with the necessary structural reforms needed to underpin growth," Mr Swan said in his weekly economic statement released yesterday. "From my initial meetings, it's clear most of my G-20 colleagues view the global recovery as fragile."

The world economy will grow 3.3 per cent this year, the slowest since the 2009 recession, and 3.6 per cent next year, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Oct 9. That compares with July predictions of 3.5 per cent for this year and 3.9 per cent next year.

Mr Swan said that even as the US has recorded more positive data in recent weeks, the nation's recovery remains "shaky".

"The most pressing issue for whoever wins this week's presidential election will be working with Congress to avert the Fiscal Cliff," said Mr Swan, referring to the US$607 billion (S$743 billion) in federal spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to take effect in January unless the US Congress acts.

President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger Mitt Romney crisscrossed the US on the final weekend of the campaign before tomorrow's election as a closely watched poll in the swing state of Iowa showed the incumbent ahead there. Mr Obama is leading Mr Romney 47 per cent to 42 per cent among likely Iowa voters, the Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll shows.

Mr Swan said: "The US will also need to outline a strategy to get its budget back on a sustainable footing to support economic growth over the longer term."

He added that he will travel to Washington from G-20 summit which began in Mexico yesterday for meetings with US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, US Congressional Budget Office Director Douglas Elmendorf and IMF Director Christine Lagarde.

Mr Swan noted that about 18.5 million people in Europe are looking for work, more than Australia's entire adult population.

"Perhaps most troubling is the fact that youth unemployment is around 50 per cent in countries like Greece and Spain," he said. Europe's unemployment rate is 11.6 per cent, compared with 5.4 per cent in Australia.

In Australia, Mr Swan is bidding for a A$44 billion (S$55 billion) swing to bring the nation's budget back to a surplus in time for an election due by late next year.

TODAY