'IMF seen hiking quotas for China, India'

The International Monetary Fund will likely raise China's membership quota to as much as 6% from 3.9% now, putting it in line with Japan, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday.

The IMF is also set to raise quota subscriptions for other emerging nations such as India, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil to reflect their enhanced economic standing, while reducing that of some European nations, the paper said.

The IMF's executive board is expected to meet by November to reach a broad agreement on specific changes, which will likely be implemented next year, the paper said.

IMF quotas are assigned based on gross domestic product, openness, economic viability, and international reserves. The current quota favours founding members Germany, France and Britain, ranking them third, fourth and fifth behind the United States and Japan. China is expected to surpass Japan as the world's second-biggest economy this year.

A member nation's quota at the IMF determines its share of votes. The top five members also have the power to appoint Executive Board directors.