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A worldwide economic apocalypse has been averted and economies around the world are on the up, according to Paul Krugman, the Nobel Prize-winning economist best known as Doctor Gloom.
He today said that "the end of the world appears to have been postponed", but added that recovery will be "slow and painful".
The normally-pessimistic Princeton University professor Krugman, known as Dr Gloom to match New York University professor Nouriel Roubini's monicker Dr Doom, told a conference in Helsinki that the world economy "does not appear to be falling into an abyss".
However, he warned, it is still in trouble.
Krugman said he believes that the global outlook is "very fuzzy", but he pointed to evidence that Germany, France and Japan emerged from recession in the last quarter.
He also indicated that the recession in the United States may have ended this summer.
He predicted that the economic downturn around the world had bottomed out.
The Nobel Laureate said that the collapse of world trade, the subject for which he was awarded the prize last year, was "truly extraordinary".
He warned that China's economy may not be large enough to power growth around the world.
Krugman added: "The problem is that this is a global financial crisis," he said.
"How can we have an export-led recovery unless we find another planet to export to?"
