The world is leaning less on its biggest economy to sustain the global recovery, according to the International Monetary Fund.

The fund left its forecast for global growth unchanged in the latest quarterly update to its World Economic Outlook, released in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

The world economy will expand by3.5 per cent this year, up from 3.2 per cent in 2016, and by 3.6 per cent next year, the IMF said. The forecasts for this year and next are unchanged from the fund's projections in April.

Beneath the headline figures, though, the drivers of the recovery are shifting, with the world relying less than expected on the US and Britain and more on China, Japan, the euro zone and Canada, the Washington-based IMF says.