The world economy is like cross country skiing, says Christine Lagarde

Christine Lagarde turned to a fitting analogy to describe the economic outlook from a press conference in Alpine Davos.

"What do you like when you’re a cross country skier? Good visibility, no uncertainty, you like when it’s kind of stable and eventually when it’s a little bit downhill – risks down, no hazards along the way. The third thing you like is everybody skiing in the tracks."

Sadly, these conditions are not prevalent - prompting the IMF to revise its forecasts for global growth downwards. The latest update to the World Economic Outlook projects global growth at 3.5% in 2019 and 3.6% in 2020, 0.2 and 0.1 percentage points below last October’s projections.

While Lagarde didn't forecast a full-blown recession looming on the horizon, she painted a picture of rising risks as trade tensions, China's slowdown and geopolitical uncertainty all took their toll on the global economy's recent upswing.

Policy-makers needed to work together - to ski in the same tracks - to solve common challenges, Lagarde argued.

You can watch the full press conference below.