The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde on Tuesday said the global economic slowdown has presented many lessons, and added that the financial sector, which has been identified as a ‘high contagion’ agent for the crisis must aid growth, not threaten it.

Addressing at a New Delhi conference on sustaining high-quality growth in India and China, Lagarde billed the financial and real estate sectors as the prime causes of the global financial crisis.

“We’ve also identified that the financial sector and financial institutions were high-contagion agents for the crisis, and that tells us, I think, a lot about where reforms have to focus going forward, both in the advanced economies and the emerging markets,” said Lagarde.

“Whether it is China or India, the financial sectors and the financial institutions have to be strong, have to be agents for growth and not a threat to growth,” she added.

Referring to the financial crisis in the Euro zone, the IMF chief said concerted efforts by some European nations and the European Central Bank (ECB) had pulled the continent further away from the brink, though several challenges still remained to be tackled.

“Thanks to the ECB, thanks to the European partners really addressing the issue of governance and thanks to the European partners and the IMF really focusing on what needs to be improved, we are further away from the abyss than we were three months ago, but there are still some really significant vulnerabilities and fragile areas that need to be tackled, that need to be addressed with rigour and vigour in the months to come,” Lagarde said.