(Adds quote on inflation, details)
NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Cutting interest rates is a vital part of the response to the global financial crisis and economic downturn and there is room for borrowing costs in Britain to fall further, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Friday.
"There is scope there for, as the Governor of the Bank of England has said, a further reduction to interest rates and that's an essential element of what we are doing," Brown told the Council on Foreign Relations.
The BoE shocked markets with a 1.5 percentage point cut in benchmark British rates to 3 percent this month, the lowest in more than 50 years, and signaled this week it could cut rates further because inflation is expected to fall rapidly.
"There is no doubt that unless things change, some countries will have zero inflation," Brown said.
Brown reiterated his call for an urgent, coordinated but temporary fiscal and monetary policy response by global policymakers to the economic slowdown.
"We have reached the stage where monetary policy must be accompanied by fiscal policy," he said.
Brown is due to attend a G20 heads of state summit in Washington this weekend, hoping to drive forward reform of international financial institutions and encourage nations to act together to address the impact of the credit crisis.
"This is the time to change the international order to bring it up to date," he said. "This is an opportunity we should not miss." (Reporting by Matt Falloon; Editing by James Dalgleish)