World Bank President David Malpass (L) speaks with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin prior to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting family photo during the IMF - World Bank Spring Meetings at International Monetary Fund Headquarters in Washington, DC, April 12, 2019.

The global economy is likely to pull out of a brief growth slump later this year — with a little help from the world's central banks and from U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators.

Global finance leaders gathered from the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank agree that the global economy has lost momentum this year. But they expect growth to pick up in the second half of 2019, as central bankers ease up on interest rates.

Still, a trade standoff between the United States and China threatens to dim the economic outlook.

"We must be mindful of an escalation of trade tensions," Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso told reporters Friday.

Japan holds the chairmanship of the Group of 20 major economies.