The International Monetary Fund(IMF) has warned world economic leaders a recent wave of trade tariffs would significantly harm global growth, urging them to sternly deal with the growing risks. 

IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde made the call on Saturday in a statement after a meeting of the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Lagarde expressed concern that short-term risks of the global economy are increasing and there are signs of risks in the euro zone and financial pressure on vulnerable emerging markets. 

The IMF chief stressed that emerging markets need to absorb external shocks by increasing the resilience of their foreign currency markets. 

The IMF warned in its recent report that if current trade policy threats are realized and business confidence falls as a result, global output could fall by point-five percentage point by 2020 from current projections.