Europe's economy risks several years of weak growth which threatens to drive up unemployment and weaken spending power, the head of the International Monetary Fund has warned.

Despite recovering growth in Asia, Africa and the United States, "the risk for Europe is several years of weak growth", IMF secretary general Dominique Strauss-Kahn said on the television news channel France 24.

"That means little spending power, problems in welfare systems for pensions and health and a rise in unemployment."

Mr Strauss-Kahn said "it is not the only place in the world where there are difficulties but there is clearly a European growth problem."

He judged there was a "quite substantial" risk of weak growth, but the IMF did not see a return to full-on recession as a major likelihood. The IMF last week raised its 2010 global growth forecast, projecting the world economy will grow by 4.6 per cent. It strengthened its outlook for several major regions, but held its forecast for Europe steady at one per cent.