* World Bank chief says global economic downturn slowing
* Says high degree of uncertainty remains
* Says sovereign debt crises less likely
(Adds details)
HELSINKI, May 20 (Reuters) - The global economic situation is still getting worse, but the pace of the decline should start to slow, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said on Wednesday.
"As for whether we've hit bottom, I hope so in terms of financial markets," Zoellick told journalists after a meeting with Nordic and Baltic central bankers. "I believe globally we are likely to see the rate of decline lessen."
Zoellick said he was more concerned at the moment about managing global risks than pinpointing when the economy would recover, noting: "Frankly, in an environment like this there is just a high degree of uncertainty."
He said risks the bank was focusing on included the cleaning up of bad loans in the banking system, possible economic shocks in Central and Eastern Europe, and the rolling over of private sector debt in developing markets.
"With the support for the IMF I think it's less likely you'll have sovereign debt crises (in developing countries)," Zoellick said.
"But you have the need in 2009 to ... fill a financing gap of between $370-$700 billion ... and a lot of that is private sector debt," he said.
Zoellick said the bank was well-capitalised to meet strong lending demand.
"We came into this crisis very well capitalised. We had about $100 billion of loans on our books, and we believe we can do another $100 billion of lending over the next three years. We are finding very strong demand for that lending," he said.
He noted that one risk yet to materialise in full during the downturn was protectionism.
"So far, it's what I call a low-grade fever, it has not burst out into full influenza, but it's important we keep a watch on it," he said.
(Reporting by Brett Young)