Brown calls for urgent joint action on crisis

By Matt Falloon

NEW YORK (Reuters) - World leaders must act urgently with co-ordinated fiscal and monetary policy to shore up the global economy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Thursday ahead of a G20 financial crisis summit this weekend.

Major central banks have already cut interest rates in tandem once this year and leading economies including the United States and China have introduced their own fiscal stimulus packages.

But for policy responses to have the greatest impact, Brown believes more co-ordination is necessary.

"We need to agree on the importance of co-ordination of monetary and fiscal policy," Brown told reporters ahead of the G20 summit in Washington.

"There is a need for urgency. By acting now we can stimulate growth in all our economies. The cost of inaction will be far greater than the cost of any action."

Policymakers are growing increasingly concerned about the prospect of prolonged recessions in major economies as the impact of the credit crisis spreads rapidly from high-flying financiers to factory workers and homeowners.

Brown has signalled his government will announce fiscal stimulus measures in its pre-budget report on November 24 and many economists think the Bank of England will cut interest rates to record lows, following a shock 1.5 percentage point cut to 3 percent this month.

TEMPORARY STIMULUS