US economic power is declining as a result of the financial crisis, the head of the World Bank has said.
"One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," said World Bank president Robert Zoellick.
The US, the world's biggest economy, has been in recession for almost two years, while emerging economies like China and Brazil have grown.
This may help bring about a long-term rebalancing of the world economy.
'Changed relations'
"A multi-polar economy less reliant on the US consumer will be a more stable world economy," Mr Zoellick said.
He was speaking in Istanbul before meetings of the the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF), where there is some discussion about how to reorganise the leadership of the bodies so that they better reflect the diversified world.
For example, China recently got a permanent chair on the IMF's 24-seat policy-making committee.