Americas economic leaders eye post-crisis world

By Rodrigo Martinez and Terry Wade

VINA DEL MAR, Chile (Reuters) - Finance ministers from the Americas and multilateral lenders on Friday sought to shore up responses to the global economic crisis on Friday and plan beyond a potential recovery for a post-crisis world.

Though unemployment is still rising, Latin America is expected to return to growth sooner than other regions because it is rich in commodities exports.

Chile, the world's No. 1 copper producer, has won praise for building up savings from high metals prices during boom times and using the cash for an economic stimulus package.

Others have made similar moves, and Peru, Colombia, Mexico and Brazil have won high marks for having sound economic policies.

"If the first challenge is recovering from the crisis, it's just as important to stick with our strategic bets on future development because the post-crisis world will be extremely competitive and we have to be prepared," Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said.

Officials from the World Bank, International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank were also at the meeting amid calls for quick rollouts of infrastructure programs to create jobs and boost future growth.

Some Latin American countries, such as Mexico and Colombia, have asked the IMF for credit lines worth billions of dollars. Those credits would backstop their economies if downturns worsen.

But U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn were not at the event, where some participants called for greater coordination of policies across borders.

Canadian Finance Minister James Flaherty said his country's financial system is healthy and has withstood the crisis better than most, thanks in part to a strong regulatory framework.

He appeared to encourage other countries to make sure their regulations were appropriate. A wave of financial deregulation in the United States over the past two decades has been blamed for contributing to the global financial crisis.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said that economic risks still remain and that the poverty-fighting institution may need to raise additional resources if lending remains at record levels as countries try to combat the global recession.

The World Bank and IADB have said they have paused some credits to Honduras, an attempt to pressure the interim government to give power back to ousted President Manuel Manuel Zelaya after a military coup on Sunday that has been widely condemned.

"The legitimate government of Honduras is that of President Manuel Zelaya," his Finance Minister Rebeca Santos said in Chile. Her peers applauded her before the meeting started.

(Writing by Terry Wade; Editing by W Simon)