LONDON, April 8 (Xinhua) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Tuesday his country is well placed to deal with global economic crises, as figures show a sharp decline in house prices.

    He said in an interview with the BBC that his government is "always vigilant" on global economic difficulties.

    Brown made the comments after the Halifax, a major mortgage lender, on Tuesday released monthly data on house prices in March, posting a 2.5- percent drop, the biggest since September 1992.

    Although house prices are still 1.1 percent higher than a year ago, they represent the slowest annual growth rate for 12 years, the Halifax reported.

    Brown said the 2.5-percent fall should be seen in the context of 10 years of big increases and low interest rates.

    "If you look back 15 years... we had 15 percent interest rates,10 percent inflation, rapidly rising unemployment, public spending having to be cut, taxes having to rise dramatically," Brown said.

    "If you look at this situation, because we've got low inflation we can cut interest rates, because we have had low debt, we can afford to keep our public spending programme in line and to borrow at the right time to help the economy come though difficult times," he added.