“If you look at Europe in the past two years you might get a little pessimistic, but if you look at Europe in the past 20 or 30 years, you can be optimistic,” he told delegates during the keynote speech at Diggers & Dealers this morning.

But he acknowledged the huge transition the world economy was going through.

“We are facing probably the biggest economic change the world has seen since the 1920s,” de Rato said.

Between 2010 and 2012, Europe’s share of the world economy would drop to 19% to 21%, China’s would soar from 8% to 16%, the US would drop to 20% from 24% and Japan would fall to 6% share from 8%.

“So there is a rebalancing of the world economy,” de Rato said.

On China, he said that despite slowing growth, there was still plenty of room for monetary consolidation.