IMF chief says 2013 to be 'make or break' year

DAVOS, Switzerland - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief said in Davos on Wednesday that 2013 will be a "make or break" year, a few hours after the IMF revised its forcast for this year's global growth rate down to 3.5 percent.

"The recovery is still weak, and uncertainty is still high," said Christine Lagarde, IMF Managing Director, when delivering a speech at the World Economic Forum annual meeting.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde addresses the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Jan 23, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

She said main sources of risks in 2013 are coming from advanced economies, including the eurozone, the United States and Japan, and urged them to keep up the momentum.

She said what the governments in the eurozone have done in the last 18 months is remarkable and she is optimistic about Europe's future.

However, "it's not the time to relax," she said.

Lagarde is less worried about the emerging countries, but she stressed that emerging economies have to rebuild the buffers they have used up during the crisis.

"I believe that if we continue to act, we will get beyond the crisis," she said.

She said that the world is in the antechamber of a new global economy, which will be geographically different, driven more by the dynamic emerging markets and developing countries, but it will also be generationally different, shaped by different values and principles.

She called for more openness and cooperation between nations, more inclusion and solidarity among people and stronger accountability of those responsible for the global economy.

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