The global economic downturn is likely to be worse than expected, the BritishChancellor Mr Gordon Brown has warned.
Mr Brown was speaking ahead of a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Rome.
He said that the slowdown which began in the US had not yet bottomed out and was now affecting Europe - particularly Germany - as well as Japan.
"There are risks in the world economy at the moment. The downturn in the world economy has not reached its bottom," he said.
"It is in many ways far more severe than we expected a few months ago because it has spread from America in particular to Germany and of course we have no growth at all in Japan," he said.
The Chancellor gave a strong hint that the European Central Bank should now lower interest rates in order to stimulate growth in the euro-zone nations.
"We must recognise that this is a global problem. America of course has reduced interest rates sharply, Japan has reduced interest rates but must now engage in economic reform.
"Europe too must engage in economic reform," he said. "I believe we have got be pro-active. Each continent must play its part in dealing with the effects of what is a global downturn."
PA