WASHINGTON - The US government is backing a bigger IMF role for China heading into the global body's annual meeting next month in Singapore, an official said.

But the administration could run into trouble with congressional critics of Chinese trade practices.

The International Monetary Fund seal is seen in Washington, DC. The US government backs a bigger role at the IMF for China heading into the global body's annual meeting next month in Singapore, an official said. [AF]

Treasury spokeswoman Brookly Mclaughlin confirmed the thrust of an interview given to the Washington Post by Tim Adams, the deputy Treasury secretary for international affairs, who endorsed China's claim for more IMF voting rights.

"But it's not just China," she said.

"He (Adams) expressed support for the idea of providing a small ad-hoc increase to the four countries that are underweight in every variable of the current quota calculations -- China, South Korea, Turkey and Mexico -- as part of a first step toward broader IMF reform."

At the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the Fund says it will press ahead with plans to revamp its voting structure to give more influence to fast-developing countries.

But some US critics oppose any increase for China's IMF influence unless the booming country takes rapid steps to revalue its currency, whose relatively cheap value has encouraged an explosion in Chinese exports.

Under one bill sponsored by two influential senators, the US administration would be compelled to veto any increase in the IMF vote of a country with a "fundamentally misaligned" currency.

In his Washington Post interview, however, Adams said the currency debate was intrinsic to IMF reform.

"We need to fix it, if this is going to be the institution leading the charge on currency regimes and so forth," he was quoted as saying.

"This institution needs to be seen as credible so all participants feel that it truly represents them."

Despite its newfound status as the workshop to the world, China has less voting power at the IMF than Belgium and the Netherlands combined. The Fund remains dominated by the United States, European countries and Japan.

Adams said that at the September 19-20 meetings in Singapore, "hopefully we'll be able to bless" a deal that would give China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey "a down payment" in terms of their IMF power.

A more far-reaching reallocation of votes could come later, he suggested.

IMF spokesman David Hawley said the Fund's board had discussed a quota reallocation at a meeting Wednesday, including for the four countries cited by Adams.

The quotas determine how much a member contributes to the Fund, its voting rights and access to financing.

"We expect that this work ... will continue in the coming days with the aim of reaching agreement on a package by the annual meetings in Singapore," Hawley told reporters.

"We remain optimistic that that objective will be met," he said.

The US government sees reform of the IMF as central to its goal of redressing global economic imbalances, which have frequently been cited by Fund chief Rodrigo Rato as one of the biggest menaces to world growth.

China's red-hot growth and the petrodollar bonanza enjoyed by oil exporters have combined with soaring US trade deficits to leave the global economy dangerously out of kilter, Rato has warned.

Speaking in Tokyo three weeks ago, the IMF managing-director said the Singapore meeting should see immediate changes to the voting powers of under-represented members.

"It's important, not so much to change the direction of the institution but to give it stronger credibility, that the most dynamic economies get the representation their real economic weight represents in the world," he said.