Rome - The recent rise in oil prices signals a feeling that the sharpest period of global economic decline "is over", a senior International Monetary Fund (IMF) official told a gathering of Group of Eight (G8) energy ministers in Rome on Monday.

Oil prices in recent weeks have risen to around 60 dollars a barrel "reflecting a general improvement," including that growth in China "may be picking up," IMF First Deputy Managing Director, John Lipsky, said.

He also said that the price rise was built "on expectations that the contraction in oil demand may bottom out soon."

Lipsky urged policy makers to find ways to reduce oil price volatility and its consequences on the global economy.

"Rapid oil price changes are detrimental to both global growth and to global economic and financial stability," he said. Policy makers should "address the principal factors underlying large oil price swings."

Lipsky was speaking during a session of the Rome gathering which is bringing together representatives from the G8 - the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Canada and Russia.

Also attending the two-day meeting which ends on Monday are energy officials from emerging economies such as Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

The need to safeguard global energy security, also as a tool to promote worldwide economic recovery, has topped the agenda, along with discussions on new clean technologies to increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

On Sunday participants heard estimates from the International Energy Agency (IEA) that global electricity consumption is expected to contract by 3.5 per cent in 2008, the first decrease since records began after World War II.

The G8 energy meeting aims to define a joint energy strategy, to be presented at the main G8 leaders summit scheduled to take place in L'Aquila, Italy in July.(dpa)