Prospects for an easing of the global economic and financial crisis remain uncertain, European Central Bank Governing Council member Yves Mersch said on Wednesday.

"The impact of the financial crisis is far from having faded," Mersch wrote in a regular report on financial stability issued by the Luxembourg central bank, of which he is governor.

"Despite the considerable economic recovery measures, their impact remains uncertain and at the start of the second quarter of 2009, the macroeconomic outlook is hardly encouraging," he added.

Of prospects for the economy of the 16-country euro zone, he added: "A stabilisation, indeed a gradual recovery, is not expected at best until the end of 2009, or more realistically, in early 2010."