Eurozone in deeper mess than US: World Bank chief

Europe's financial woes are more troubling than the United States' debt problem that saw a downgrading of the country's 'medium- and long-term' sovereign credit rating by Standard and Poor's, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said today.

Unless the European Union takes enough action, the current debt problem will lead to a "new and more dangerous" time for the global economy, Zoellick warned.

Eurozone's sovereign debt issues are more serious than that of the US and a wider spread of the Eurozone crisis will hit most developed and developing countries hard, Zoellick said in an interview to the `Weekend Australian' newspaper.

Zoellic said the problem is more with Eurozone's structure, which "could also turn out to be the most important" challenge for the global economy.

He said while there seemed to be some hope for larger economies like Spain and Italy, debt-crippled Greece and Portugal are faced with the dilemma of not being able to devalue their currencies.

The action taken so far falls far short of what is needed, he said.