Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund

Lagarde warned countries against relying too much on monetary policy to counter another economic downturn, urging them to undertake fiscal and structural reforms to boost their economies' resilience to shocks.

The International Monetary Fund said ahead of the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that global expansion has weakened and that the world's economy is expected to grow at rate of 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020.

"After two years of solid expansion, the world economy is growing more slowly than expected, and risks are rising," said Lagarde at a press conference.