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By Lesley Wroughton

ISTANBUL, Oct 3 (Reuters) - African economies should recover fairly quickly when the global economy gains strength and debt levels in the region are not troubling, the International Monetary Fund's top official for Africa said on Saturday.

In an interview with Reuters, IMF Director for Africa Antoinette Sayeh said that in countries where debt or high inflation are not a problem, fiscal and monetary policies should remain supportive.

To prevent a deterioration in debt levels, which have already risen in the region, fiscal policy will need to shift once a recovery has been established, she said.

"We need to be careful because we've already seen some deterioration of debt sustainability indicators in some countries," Sayeh said on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank meetings here.

"Some of the debt ratios are not looking as good as they did but we expect growth to resume in the next couple of years, so they have not deteriorated to levels that are worrying us," she said.

"We think countries at least for 2010 countries need to look at their budgets in the perspective of the recovery not yet fully underway."