Countries must work together to tackle the most dangerous financial crisis the world has seen since the 1930s, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said.

IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn told reporters ahead of a meeting this weekend that coordinated global action, such as that taken by central banks across the world to cut interest rates, is needed.

The world is on “the cusp of a global recession,” but if countries act together, the world economy would recover, he stated.

Mr Strauss-Kahn particularly urged European countries, some of which have been offering their own savers’ guarantees, to work together: “There is no domestic solution to a crisis like this one.”

On Wednesday, the IMF released a gloomy world economic forecast, predicting no growth in many advanced economies until mid-2009.

The IMF now expects world growth to slow to three per cent in 2009, from five per cent last year, with a sluggish recovery later in the year.

The economy in the UK is expected to contract by 0.1 per cent in 2009, according to the forecast.

Pressure has been growing on the organisation to help stem the crisis and the IMF said it has activated emergency procedures to respond quickly to requests for support.

Emerging markets are being provided with high-access financing where credit lines have dried up, the IMF said, and countries can get access to cash in days rather than weeks.