Central banks warn of new crisis if exit left too late

The global economy as well as financial markets were on the mend, though the recovery remained fragile in the advanced economies and in the euro zone the debt crisis put the recovery at risk, the BIS said in its annual report, published on Monday.

Global leaders meeting in Toronto agreed to take different paths for shrinking budget deficits and making banking systems safer and Washington in particular has warned against cutting too fast.

The head of the BIS said there was no time to waste.

"In particular, delaying fiscal policy adjustment would only risk renewed financial volatility, market disruptions and funding stress."

Caruana later told a news conference that recently announced fiscal consolidation in some countries together with the publication of bank stress tests in Europe and the support of the G20 for regulatory reforms were important steps forward.

The BIS, which acts as a bank to central banks and a discussion platform for policymakers, said reforms of the financial system remained key to prevent further crises.

Caruana said the benefit of making the financial system more resilient through tighter regulation outweighed any short-term growth losses.

Top central bankers met at the BIS annual meeting June 26-28 in Basel, following the G20 summit where leaders acknowledged the uneven and fragile economic recovery in many countries.

In a reversal from the unity of the past three crisis-era Group of 20 summits, the leaders left room to move at their own pace and adopt "differentiated and tailored" policies.

But the BIS warned powerful support measures had strong side effects and said their dangers were starting to emerge.

"To put it bluntly, the combination of remaining vulnerabilities in the financial system and the side effects of such a long period of intensive care threaten to send the patient into relapse," the BIS report said.