By Jennifer Ryan and Simone Meier Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the world is experiencing its worst financial crisis since the aftermath of World War II. ``It is the first time that the heart of the finance of the industrialized countries are at stake, are in a very turbulent and difficult episode,'' Trichet told Sky News Television in an interview published on its Web site. ``In that sense it is new and it is the first time since World War II.'' Europe's economy fell into its first recession in 15 years in the third quarter after the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression pushed up lending costs. The ECB has signaled it is ready to lower interest rates further after cutting the benchmark twice by 50 basis points to 3.25 percent. The ECB along with the world's largest central banks has injected billions of dollars into financial markets to restore lending and governments have bailed out banks across Europe. Trichet said that it will ``take time'' to solve the crisis. The turmoil is ``solvable by joint efforts by authorities and certainly central banks,'' Trichet said. ``The private sector has an essential role to play to get out of the crisis.'' The credit turmoil worsened after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in September, sparking the biggest global stock sell-off in 70 years. The world's financial companies have posted almost $1 trillion in writedowns since the start of last year, when the U.S. housing slump triggered a credit shortage. Deep Recession World leaders meeting in Washington earlier this month called for a ``broader policy response'' to the possibility of a deep recession. Countries should act ``as deemed appropriate to domestic conditions,'' the Group of 20 nations said. Trichet said it is ``absolutely necessary'' for industrialized nations including Europe and the U.S. to cooperate with emerging countries to tackle the credit crisis. ``The meeting of the G-20 gives a lot of impetus to speed up the process and to be as active as possible,'' the ECB president said. ``The system is such that it amplified the booms and busts. We must try to reduce'' that. Trichet also said ``Britain would be welcome at any time'' to adopt the euro. ``There are a lot of advantages associated with the completion of the single market,'' he said. ``You are not in an achieved single market as long as there are different currencies.'' To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Ryan in London at Jryan13@bloomberg.net; Simone Meier in Frankfurt at smeier@bloomberg.net.

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