Speaking to journalists on Thursday evening, Ms Georgieva said: “Unprecedented sanctions have led to abrupt contraction of the Russian economy, moving into a deep recession.

“We are mindful that massive currency depreciation is driving inflation up. It is denting severely the purchasing power and standard of living for a vast majority of the Russian population.”

The IMF had already lowered its economic forecasts for the US, China and the global economy in January, projecting global economic growth would reach 4.4pc this year.

The downgrade was triggered by risks linked to the pandemic, rising inflation, supply disruption and tighter US monetary policies.

Rocketing commodity prices caused by the war in Ukraine have now been added to the list of concerns.

Ms Georgieva said a default on the Kremlin’s debt was no longer seen as “improbable”.

Her comments come as the World Bank said Russia is “mighty close” to a default on its foreign debts, amid fears it will fail to make a $117m (£89m) coupon payment on a sovereign eurobond next week.

She said that China had more policy space to cushion the impact of the war, but might find it hard to achieve its target growth rate of 5.5pc.

The surge in inflation triggered by the war means monetary tightening already underway in many countries would “go faster and go further” than expected, according to Ms Georgieva.

Latin America, the Caribbean, some Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt and many countries in Africa are also facing serious consequences.