PARIS - THE advanced economies will soon hit the bottom of the recession and will have begun the long haul towards a weak recovery by the end of the year, the OECD said on Wednesday.

'It looks as if the worst scenario has been avoided and that OECD economies are now nearing the bottom,' the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said in a six-month review.

'The bottom of the recession is likely to be reached only in the second half of the current year, after which a weak recovery is projected,' it said.

'Even if the subsequent recovery may be slow, such an outcome is a major achievement of economic policy,' it added.

The 30-nation OECD also revised upwards its growth estimates, noting that this was the first time in 24 months that it had increased, instead of lowered, previous forecasts.

It said it now expected the group's economies to grow 0.7 per cent next year, rather than shrink by the 0.1 per cent it had estimated in March. -- AFP