Hungary's central bank also cut its benchmark interest rate to 10 percent from 10.5 percent last December, the third such move in about a month.

Brazil's Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) earlier this month cut the country's annual basic interest rate (Selic) by 1.5 percentage points, from 12.75 percent to a record low of 11.25 percent.

Apart from rate cuts, central banks could also adjust liquidity through open market operations.

To provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the US Fed announced plans to buy up to US$750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, bringing its total purchases of these securities to US$1.25 trillion this year. It will also increase its purchases of debt issued or guaranteed by the nation's two mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac this year by up to US$100 billion to a total of US$200 billion.

The Bank of Japan has decided to raise its outright purchase of long-term government bonds to 1.8 trillion yen (US$18.3 billion) per month from 1.4 trillion yen (US$14.8 billion) to boost liquidity and curb a rise in long-term interest rates.

Meanwhile, in the hard-hit East Europe, the central banks of Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland said the recent depreciation of their currencies had been exaggerated.

In a bid to inject liquidity to the financial market, the Brazilian central bank sold parts of the country's foreign exchange reserves on the domestic market.

International cooperation

As the global financial crisis worsens, governments around the world have come to realized that concerted efforts are necessary to tackle the global meltdown.

At this year's World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said cooperation between major powers and global financial institutions is vital to ensure a continued flow of credit to developing and smaller countries, which are likely to be the biggest victims of the recession.

In their latest meeting in Horsham, Britain, the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors agreed to restore global growth and support lending and reforms to strengthen the global financial system.

They also pledged to strengthen international cooperation in efforts to resolve the financial crisis.

In addition, the European Investment Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have recently pledged to jointly invest 24.5 billion euros (US$31 billion) in Central and Eastern Europe to combat the crisis. The EU leaders also agreed to double the International Monetary Fund's aid pool from the current US$250 billion to US$500 billion.

Last November's G20 Financial Summit in Washington hammered out a blueprint for the new global financial system. The coming London G20 Financial Summit is expected to work out details for realizing that goal.

There is a growing consensus that in the era of globalization, international financial cooperation is one of the most effective ways to help establish a new and effective global financial system.

(Xinhua News Agency March 27, 2009)