The leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation nations voiced confidence that the global financial crisis can be quelled in 18 months. The members are expecting the crisis to have resolved by mid-2010.

The APEC leaders said in a statement that they were convinced that this crisis could be overcome in a period of 18 months and they had already devised strategies to take urgent and extraordinary steps to stabilize the financial sectors and strengthen economic growth. Delegates from several countries said that the strategies were framed overnight at the request of the summit's host, Peruvian President Alan Garcia.

The 18-month timeline fits with a calculation by the International Monetary Fund, which forecast developed economies would grow barely 0.1 percent in 2009, and that the world would emerge from the crisis the following year.

But some delegates and analysts were skeptical that the timetable was not more than wishful thinking, and some leaders distanced themselves from the language. Mexican President Felipe Calderon described the date as more of an estimate than a prediction.