Last night George Soros, one of the world's most powerful financiers, warned that the world was 'heading into a storm'.

Mr Soros, the financial speculator best known for cashing-in on the pound's withdrawal from the European Rate Mechanism on Black Wednesday in the 1990s said that the worst was far from over.

Mr Soros even claimed that we are only at the beginning of a major financial crisis.

George Soros: Is worried the world could collapse in a 1930s style depression

He compared the current situation with the Great Depression of 1930s which followed the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Speaking on BBC's Newsnight, he said: 'We are not through it at all.

'We are heading into the storm rather than coming out of it. We are at a very precarious moment.'

When asked whether the US Government was wrong not to bail out the Lehman Brothers, he replied: 'Whether they should have been rescued depends on whether the financial system survives.

'If it survives then it was right to let them go bust. If there is a meltdown then it obviously wasn't.

'One thing is clear - We mustn't allow the financial system to collapse as it did in the 1930s.'

Referring to Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, he said: 'The way Paulson is handling the situation is reminiscent of the way the bankers handled it in the 1930s.'

He added: 'The financial system has gone overboard and the financial engineering has grown to big, it takes up too big a share in the world's resources.

'Now it is shrinking. When it becomes regulated it will be less profitable than the last 25 years.'

Speaking of the impact on Britain, he said: 'The financial industry is a major segment of the British economy. That's why Britain is more heavily hit by the financial crisis than most other economies.'