(Adds more Lipsky comments, background)
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The level of the dollar and other major currencies is not preventing a necessary rebalancing in the global economy, the International Monetary Fund's second-in-command said on Tuesday.
"The surplus countries have to shift to internal demand and the deficit countries the opposite. Currencies may play a role in that over time," IMF First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky told CNBC television in an interview.
"But in the near term, the currency relationships among the major ... trading currencies are not an impediment to the recovery at this time," he said.
The dollar hit a 14-month low against a basket of currencies <.DXY> on Tuesday. Its recent slide has partially reversed a sharp rally during last year's financial crisis.
The IMF says the global economy is on track for a moderate recovery in 2010. But it argues that for long-term health, major exporting countries like China need to spend more at home, while big debtor nations like the United States should save more, import less and export more.
Some private sector economists see a prolonged depreciation in the dollar as inevitable, although officials in Washington constantly stress that a strong dollar is in the national interest.
One of the factors sapping the dollar is the country's record budget deficit. Lipsky stressed that the United States, like a number of other advanced economies, faces a lasting challenge to get its debt position under control.
"There is no question that over the medium term, in the next 10 to 20 years, all the advanced economies are going to face substantial fiscal challenges. They've made big promises that imply big increases in their spending," he said.
Lipsky also repeated the IMF's view that the biggest threat to the world recovery is policymakers pulling back too early from stimulative measures to kick-start growth after the severe recession of 2008.
"Our biggest concern is that we have a successful hand-off from public sector demand to private sector demand in economies around the world, and we would not want to run the risk of a premature withdrawal on the public sector side," Lipsky said. (Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by James Dalgleish and Dan Grebler)