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“It would be good to see a more co-ordinated approach from the EU authorities,” Mr Kubilius told the Financial Times during a visit to Stockholm. “We are all suffering in a similar way from the credit crunch and the recession.”

He also warned that financial sector turmoil in Ukraine and Russia could worsen the region’s plight.

“We are worried about what can happen in Ukraine and Russia,” Mr Kubilius said. “The collapse of one of these big markets would have a very negative impact on the whole region.”

Most of east Europe is now expected to follow west Europe into recession this year as export markets contract and foreign banks cut lending to their local subsidiaries.

This will ricochet back onto western European banks and economies. This week equity and currency markets plunged after a warning from Moody’s that several banks risked rating downgrades because of looming problems at their eastern European subsidiaries.

Some west European banks have already appealed to Brussels to support lending in eastern Europe and EU leaders will discuss the region’s problems at a summit on March 1.

Mr Kubilius said Baltic companies were complaining that foreign banks were tightening lending conditions, preventing them getting credits to pursue export opportunities. “Sometimes we would like to see a more positive attitude, especially when business is not in a bad shape,” he said.

The Baltic states entered recession last year after a consumption and real estate bubble burst and are expected to contract by up to 10 per cent this year.

Mr Kubilius pointed out that the Baltic states were in an especially difficult position because, to defend their fixed exchange rates, they had to tighten rather than loosen fiscal policy and their exports had become less competitive compared to countries with depreciating currencies.

Nevertheless Mr Kubilius said Lithuania did not yet need to follow neighbouring Latvia and seek help from the International Monetary Fund.

“We don’t have any real need for IMF lending,” Mr Kubilius said. “We are controlling our budget deficit and we don’t have any real problems at the moment with local banks.”

Last week Reinoldijus Sarkinas, governor of the central bank, told parliament that it would be helpful if the government had a prior agreement with the IMF that it would provide funding if needed.

However, Mr Kubilius said this could be counter-productive: “There is a stigma [in seeking IMF help] that we want to avoid,” he said. “We can still borrow in the private market and we hope that in the second half of the year there will be a more positive international market.”