"An economy grew on the basis of its components - resources, manpower, capital, financial markets and policies and policies and the policies we believe are sound and solid."
She declined to give her view on the Bank of Japan's announcement last week to embark on a massive programme of quantitative easing designed to double the money supply and stimulate the economy.
She said she would give her views on the move in a speech today at the Bo'ao Forum, an annual event in China that brings together business and political leaders.
Ms Lagarde said Asian economies had been the main driver of growth in the past five years ever since the global financial crisis started ''and I just cant think what growth would have been like had it not been for Asia contributing to growth."
China had been a key driver and she indicated the growth would have no big fluctuations.
"We've all along said that China would have a soft landing, if any, and clearly the forecasts we have for China in 2013 -14 do not indicate a hard landing and hardly a soft landing."
Commenting on the North Korea security crisis she said ''any disruption of a political or geo-political nature is not good for the economy, let's face it."
Ms Lagarde, a former Finance Minister of France, was appointed to the IMF job in 2011 after the resignation of compatriot Dominique Strauss-Kahn following allegations he had sexually assaulted a hotel maid. No charges were laid.
Mr Key said his Government's message was that not everything in New Zealand was perfect "but we are going in the right direction."
He said he and Ms Lagarde also discussed the United States and European economies. The outlook for America was better and the outlook for Europe was "still very challenging."
He said her comments about New Zealand were "great news."
"They are independently looking at New Zealand. They try and give an objective view and it matches it with what makes sense.
"New Zealand is now very much part of Asia and this trip is an example of what's critically important to New Zealand."
