IMF's Lagarde says growth to remain weak in 2013

The global economy will not gain much traction this year as Europe and Japan fail to recover, trailing other developed economies, International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde has said.

"We do not expect global growth to be much higher this year than last," Lagarde said in the prepared text of a speech in New York six days before the IMF releases its latest forecasts for the world economy.

"We are now seeing the emergence of a 'three-speed' global economy - those countries that are doing well, those that are on the mend and those that still have some distance to travel," she said.

After some progress, the 17-country euro zone still has a lot of work to do, including cleaning up a banking system that is not lending enough money to the real economy, Lagarde said.

Japan needs to rely more on monetary policy to boost its growth, she said, nevertheless welcoming last week's move by the country's central bank to embark on a programme of record monetary easing.

The Washington-based IMF is about to co-fund its fourth bailout in the euro zone by contributing about US$1.3 billion to Cyprus's rescue package.

Lagarde said the United States is in better shape, but warned about the risks posed by automatic spending cuts that kicked in last month, and which are known as sequestration.