Speaking at a World Economic Forum panel in Davos, Georgieva affirmed an IMF forecast for global growth to decelerate to 2.7% this year from around 3.2% last year.

"Since the beginning of the year we do see some good news. We also expect in 2023 growth to bottom out, to start the process in which we go up rather than down," she said.

Georgieva said the three very significant challenges were the Russia-Ukraine war, the cost of living crisis and interest rates at a level unseen in decades. The world must manage the adjustment to more security of supply smartly, she added.

"The context is: It is not great," she added.

(Reporting by Maha El Dahan and Mark John; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel, William Maclean)