Speaking to a World Economic Forum panel, Lagarde said that energy prices are expected to stabilize in 2022 and industrial bottlenecks, which have also pushed up prices, could also ease.

Euro zone inflation hit 5% in December, more than twice the ECB's 2% target but the bank sees it back below 2% by the fourth quarter.

(Reporting by Balazs Koranyi; Editing by Francesco Canepa)