HONG KONG, Jan 20 (Reuters) - The world's economy is recovering more strongly than expected and the projected growth rate in 2010 is likely to beat the forecast 3 percent, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, said on Wednesday.
But he said the recovery was patchy and various regions were rebounding at a varying pace.
While the recovery in most advanced economies was likely to remain sluggish and would continue to be dependant on government support, the outlook for emerging market economies was considerably better, he said in embargoed remarks ahead of a speech to the Asian Financial Forum.
He said recovery was being led by Asia among emerging market economies thanks to the resilience of domestic demand, sound economic frameworks and a swift policy response to the crisis.
Growth for the Asian region, excluding Japan, would exceed 7 percent in 2010, Strauss-Kahn said.
"This means that many emerging market economies will be able to exit from crisis support measures sooner than the advanced economies with monetary tightening generally preceding fiscal tightening," he said. (Reporting by Umesh Desai; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)