By Edmund Conway, Economics Editor Last Updated: 11:52AM GMT 13 Feb 2009  French and German ministers are expected to confront the Chancellor over sterling's weakness at the opening dinner for the Group of Seven finance summit in Rome tonight. They will ask him to consider direct action to increase the value of the pound, which has suffered its worst devaluation since at least the final breakdown of the Bretton Woods agreement in the early 1970s.  It came as the pound dropped further against a range of currencies, following the Bank of England's unexpected acknowledgement earlier this week that it plans to start buying gilts imminently as part of its quantitative easing efforts. Sterling fell more than a cent against the dollar to $1.4248, although it did strengthen marginally against the euro.  The Rome G7, which will mark US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner's first international outing, is likely to focus not merely on the financial crisis but on the growing gaps opening up between different currencies. In particular, companies in Europe have complained that the pound's recent devaluation has left their exporters suffering, as businesses are switching to cheaper British goods.  The pound has weakened by about a quarter over the past year as it has become increasingly apparent that the UK faces a worse recession than most other developed nations, and that the Bank's Monetary Policy Committee will be forced to slash interest rates as a result.  The Bank's Governor Mervyn King signalled this week that rates would have to fall even further in coming months, and that the Bank would soon embark on plans to pump cash directly into the economy. He also said the Bank would probably start buying government securities – something even the Federal Reserve has so far refrained from doing, and generally regarded as a particularly powerful means of stimulating the economy.  The fall in the pound has incurred the wrath of Mr Darling's continental counterparts, with French finance minister Christine Lagarde urging the Bank to intervene in foreign exchange markets and the Germans pledging to put the issue of currencies high on the agenda.
European finance ministers are planning to round on Alistair Darling and tell    him to bring the pound back under control, in what many fear could represent    the opening salvo of a "currency war".