LONDON - BRITAIN'S finance minister voiced optimism on Thursday for a global economic recovery in 2010, but repeated a warning against complacency, ahead of a G20 finance ministers' meeting.

Chancellor Alistair Darling said he also expected the British economy to return to growth at the beginning of 2010 following signs that economic confidence across the globe is returning.

'I believe we can be confident about our prospects for 2010. But there are still uncertainties and risks that we have to confront,' Mr Darling told the Scottish branch of the Confederation of British Industry, a lobby group.

'And the biggest risk is to think that the job's done - that recovery is guaranteed. No country can be complacent - we've got to see this through.'

Mr Darling said the fact that France, Germany and Japan have already emerged from recession was 'encouraging' but stressed the importance of massive fiscal stimulus packages introduced at the height of the global financial crisis.

'One thing these three countries - and the UK - have in common is that they have all put in place a fiscal stimulus,' he told the group in Glasgow.

'We all allowed borrowing to rise, so that we could put more money into the economy, to help people, protect jobs and support businesses.

'To have failed to act would have been indefensible - and the cost would have been far greater.' Mr Darling, the host of the G-20 meeting starting on Friday, also warned in a newspaper interview on Thursday against complacency, fearing a push for a rapid decline in government stimulus spending would jeopardise recovery in Britain and around the world. -- AFP