China should not give huge loans to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which is planning to offer a helping hand to some European countries struggling due to the economic crisis, a top economist warned.

"With regard to offering loans to the IMF, I personally believe that we can do (that) symbolically and not lend huge amounts," Yu Yongding, president of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told China Daily yesterday in an exclusive interview ahead of the G20 London Summit next month.

But he insisted that China should help the African countries suffering from credit crunch. Yu's point of view comes even as there is hectic lobbying for China and other countries to lend more to double the IMF kitty to $500 billion as a precautionary measure in case the crisis worsens and more countries need to access money. Japan has already contributed an extra $100 billion.