Finance ministers and central bank governors of the United States, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Britain (G7) will meet on September 9 in the French port of Marseilles to discuss what action to take to prop up the slowing global economy.

The source said that there was a sense among G7 countries that the global economy had entered the most difficult period since the collapse of Lehman Brothers and that there was a risk of recession -- either in technical terms, seen as two straight quarters of contraction, or with positive growth but a widening output gap.

This was because temporary factors such as high oil prices were exacerbated by the sovereign debt crisis and the uncertainty created by the US debt limit debate - all dealing a major blow to confidence, the official said.

The accommodative monetary policy stance discussions would include issues such as quantitative easing, the official said.

No official communiqué was planned after the meeting, but there could be a briefing by France, which will chair the talks, the official said.

The G7 is also likely to point to the need for a "rotation of growth" - that when developed countries are slowing down, emerging economies like China and other Asian powerhouses should pick up the slack.

In this context, the G7 is likely to call for economies with large current account surpluses to increase domestic demand and allow their exchange rates to appreciate.

The G7 is also likely to discuss the IMF's call for further recapitalization of European banks, the sources said, but the EU is likely to stick to its position that bank stress tests last July were an adequate indication of the sector's capital needs and that work to address them was already under way.