In an interview with an IMF publication issued today, Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the United States and Japan should also roll out their medium-term fiscal plans to anchor expectations about economic policy.

She said action, and not just talk, is needed among all countries to help the world economy regain its stride again, with emerging market economies now clearly drawn into the slowdown in global growth.

"It's a question of really trying to move beyond the crisis in the euro zone, asserting a medium-term plan for countries like the United States and Japan, and making sure that some of the issues that actually created the crisis back five years ago are really dealt with, not just half dealt with," Lagarde told IMF Survey.