HONOLULU - Europe's economic troubles won't be solved quickly, so Asia-Pacific countries need to plan their own policy response over the medium term, a top World Bank official said on Thursday.

Unlike the sudden shock of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy in 2008, Europe's debt crisis is moving relatively slowly, and the remedies will take time, World Bank Managing Director Sri Mulyani Indrawati said.

"Everybody expects this weakening of the European economy is going to be quite long because the adjustment is going to be quite severe and significant," she said in a Reuters interview on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Honolulu.

"That's why they're not just making sure that the policy response is going to be short term, six or 12 months, they're thinking more medium term."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said earlier on Thursday that countries with the capacity to drive stronger economic growth should act now to buffer the global economic impact of Europe's debt crisis.

Indrawati said many Asia-Pacific countries had space to increase government spending or reduce interest rates to spur faster economic growth.

"The logical thing in order for them to be able to maintain the (economic) performances is try to boost domestic demand," she said.

"The APEC economies enjoy quite a lot of room.... both fiscal as well as monetary space for doing the countercyclical" policies.

With the European Union in danger of tipping into a recession and U.S. growth sluggish, Asia stands out as the one region capable of delivering growth strong enough to support the global economy.

However, Europe's troubles have already begun to sap Asia's export strength.

China's October exports to the European Union rose just 7.5 percent year-on-year in October, slower than September's pace and just one-third of August's.

There is also evidence that Europe's troubles are spilling over through financial markets. Foreign exchange and bond markets have been especially volatile since August, and many emerging economies have seen heavy capital outflows.

"There is contagion, at least in terms of perception and confidence," Indrawati said. — Reuters