Darling says credit crisis poses major risk

LONDON (Reuters) - Chancellor Alistair Darling said on Wednesday that turbulence in global markets posed a major risk to the world economy but Britain was better placed than others to deal with a global economic slowdown.

"We have seen significant disruption across many credit markets: with a number of them barely functioning at all," Darling told parliament as he presented his first UK Budget.

"And since the turn of the year, global stock markets have also been affected. This poses a major risk to the world economy."

With the credit crisis deepening, leading central banks acted together on Tuesday to pump money into jittery money markets in a bid to restore confidence in the world financial system.

The Bank of England, the Federal Reserve, European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank and Bank of Canada all said they stood ready to take whatever action might be needed to get markets working properly again.

"With the action taken last year to curb inflation, Britain is better placed than other economies to withstand the slowdown in the global economy," Darling said.