The curtains came down Sunday on IMF and World Bank meetings that were dominated by a gathering row over whether austerity or growth should come centre stage as the world economy seeks a reboot.

The International Monetary Fund -- criticised in the past for its strict prescription of the bitter medicine of deficit cuts -- used the week to articulate a moderated position emphasising growth.

That brought its Managing Director Christine Lagarde into conflict with champions of austerity, in the person of German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who insisted there was "no alternative" to budget-slashing.

The dispute was the centrepiece of events in Tokyo, as they jockeyed over how strict to be on countries with runaway deficits.

Lagarde caused a stir on Thursday when she said she was happy for Greece -- bleeding from the spending cuts demanded by international creditors -- to have two more years to meet its deficit-reduction targets.

The following day, Schaeuble said there was "no alternative" to slashing bloated national balance sheets, demands to which Athens and other troubled eurozone capitals have agreed in exchange for multi-billion euro bailouts.

On Saturday both insisted they were on the same page.

"We are in complete agreement with the IMF, and especially with Ms. Lagarde, that in a mid-term view the reduction of too-high debt levels is completely unavoidable," Schaeuble told reporters.

As they sought to paper over the cracks, Lagarde told a separate news conference that talk of a split was over-done.

"In reality, what has been presented as disagreement is more about perception than reality," she said.

"We all recognise that credible, medium-term fiscal adjustments are necessary in all advanced economies... (but it must) be calibrated on a country-by-country basis... it cannot be one-size-fits-all."

Calls for moderation in the pace of fiscal tightening have grown over recent months, with sometimes-violent street protests in debt-laden European countries as joblessness grows and social welfare programmes are trimmed.

There are also escalating fears that cuts are a drag on the global economy.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/15th-Oct-12