March 9 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean- Claude Trichet, who chaired a meeting of global central bankers today, said investors are underestimating the potential for a return to economic growth and that the world may be approaching a turning point.

“We have a number of elements suggesting that we’re approaching the moment where we’re having a pickup,” Trichet said today at a press conference in Basel, Switzerland, where he chaired the Global Economy Meeting at the Bank for International Settlements. “But we’re still at a level where the positives are not fully priced in.”

Central banks have aggressively lowered interest rates and governments have injected billions into their economies to stem the world’s worst recession since World War II. The International Monetary Fund said on March 3 that it sees a “serious risk” of a global economic contraction this year.

“In these times, it’s important to highlight that there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” said Martin van Vliet, an economist at ING Bank in Amsterdam. “Trichet is thinking of the lag between the implementation of measures and when they take their full effect.”

Trichet met in Basel with his counterparts from the world’s largest central banks, including Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King and People’s Bank of China vice governor Yi Gang.

Trichet said the decline in oil prices in conjunction with the measures taken by central banks and governments should stimulate economic growth.

Stimulus ‘Underestimated’

“We are identifying a number of elements in the global economy which are expansionary, first the decision of authorities taken and the price of oil,” Trichet said. “We also trust as central banks with regards to monetary easing that this easing is also underestimated by the observers and market participants.”

The ECB has lowered its benchmark interest rate by 2.75 percentage points since early October to a record low of 1.5 percent. That’s still above the Bank of England’s 0.5 percent key rate. In Japan and the U.S., borrowing costs are near zero.

In addition, the U.S. government will spend $787 billion to revive economic growth and China has announced a $580 billion package. In Europe, leaders have pledged 200 billion euros ($251 billion).

2010 ‘Pickup’

“Most of the observers are projecting negative growth for the industrialized world, growth which would be very close to zero at a global level, and a pickup next year,” Trichet said. “I wouldn’t say that central bankers would part from this analysis.”

The IMF said in January that the global economy may expand just 0.5 percent this year. The economies in the U.S., Japan and Europe will probably all shrink this year, the Washington-based fund forecast. The IMF will release new projections next month.

China’s Yi told reporters at the Basel meeting today that the country’s economy may be hurt by a global slump in exports.

“We hope that it will stabilize but we have to see,” Yi said. “There are still a lot of uncertainties ahead of us.”

The People’s Bank of China has cut rates five times since September, taking the key one-year lending rate to 5.31 percent.

Global central bank governors discussed the use of additional measures to boost lending, according to Trichet.

“Each of us indicated what they had decided with regards to standard and non-standard measures,” he said without elaborating. “It was a very, very important exchange of views. We are not in the same situation. We have different structures that need to be taken into account.”

Central bank governors didn’t discuss deflation risks, Trichet said. “It’s not something we consider a high probability at all at a global level,” he said.

The Global Economy Meeting is held every two months under the auspices of the BIS, the central bank of the world’s central banks.

To contact the reporters on this story: Simone Meier in Basel at smeier@bloomberg.net. Jana Randow in Basel at jrandow@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 9, 2009 10:03 EDT