NEW YORK, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The world economy faces several risks to growth, but there is no reason to believe it is heading into a new recession, European Central Bank Vice President Vitor Constancio said on Friday.

Speaking at a Reuters Newsmaker event, Constancio said that while central bankers maintained regular contact, there was no need for the sort of coordinated action that major central banks took during the global financial crisis in 2008.

“We are not at all in a situation that could be compared to what happened in 2008,” Constancio said.

“The risks are to the downside but it is not as if the world is going into new recession.” (Reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)