IMF: Coronavirus could negatively affect economic growth for 2020

So far our forecast is 3.3 percent growth, and there may be a 0.1 percent drop. This is a special occasion and I urge all not to draw hasty conclusions,” said Georgieva at the World Women's Forum in Dubai.

While acknowledging it was too early to assess the impact of the epidemic, which left nearly 1,700 dead, it acknowledged, however, that tourism and transport, among other things, had already been hit.

“We don't know the exact nature of this virus, we don't know how fast China will be able to crush it and if it will spread even more worldwide. We know it will affect the chain of global value,” she said.

Georgiev told CNBC on Wednesday that the most likely scenario was a sharp decline in activity in China, followed by rapid recovery and relatively limited overall influence in the world.

On January 20th, the IMF presented the latest forecasts for the world economy, further counting the recovery plus 3.3 percent, falling from plus 2.9 percent in 2019, thanks in particular to a <x0-valuation” in “to the trade war” in the United States and China.

But the IMF warned that recovery was fragile and that repeated uncertainty could impede growth.