China on Saturday called on the eurozone to move quickly to end its debt crisis at a meeting of the world's finance chiefs in Washington.

"The sovereign debt crisis in the euro area needs to be resolved promptly to stabilize market confidence," China's central bank chief, Zhou Xiaochuan, said at the International Monetary Fund.

"Forceful and credible fiscal consolidation measures are needed in relevant economies to alleviate sovereign debt stress," he told the IMF's steering body in a closed-door meeting.

The central bank governor of the world's second-largest economy noted the global financial crisis originated in a "few advanced economies." He did not name the United States and its massive debt and deficits problems.

Though the US financial woes, heightened by extreme political divisions, have raised significant concerns, the eurozone crisis, with Greece on the brink of default, has dominated discussions at the annual meetings of the IMF and the World Bank.

A widespread view that US and EU political leaders are not up to managing their economies has shredded confidence, particularly in the financial markets, and that must be addressed, Zhou said.

"Global cooperation is imperative," Zhou told the International Monetary and Financial Committee, the steering body of the 187-institution.

"A key element of cooperation is for each country to take the matter in its own hand, take well-targeted measures, and put the domestic house in order."

For the major advanced economies, that means swiftly adopting "clear and credible" medium-term strategies to break the negative feedback loop between the public sector and private financial firms, boosting market confidence, he said.

Zhou also warned that the IMF, which currently has about $630 billion in financial resources, may not have enough money to help needy countries amid turmoil sparked by the advanced economies.

"As the European sovereign debt crisis unfolds, demand for IMF financing from its members has increased dramatically," he said.

"However, its available financial resources may not be adequate to meet the potential needs of the crisis-hit countries."

China, like most emerging-market and developing countries, maintained robust growth momentum during the crisis, contributing heavily to the global recovery from a 2008 recession.

But Zhou warned that those countries were facing stiff headwinds from "excessive global liquidity, volatile cross-border flows, weakening external demand, and fluctuating commodity prices."

He said that China's growth outlook remains "positive," and the economy is seeing an accelerating increase in domestic demand, a key objective of the IMF and the Group of 20 major economies in seeking to reduce dangerous global imbalances.

China, the engine of global growth, will see its gross domestic product expand by 9.5 percent in 2011 and 9.0 percent in 2012, according to IMF estimates revised slowly lower largely due to the US and EU debt problems.

Zhou acknowledged Beijing has its own homework to do.

"High inflation remains the top concern," he said.

Consumer prices rose 5.6 percent from January to August, double the pace of the same period a year ago, despite government steps to cool inflation.

Zhou signaled more efforts were in the pipeline, designed "to bring down inflation in the short term without major disruptions to growth."

A top IMF official suggested Saturday that China has the firepower to launch another growth stimulus if needed, following a huge package unveiled in late 2008 to counter the global financial crisis.

"China has the room to reintroduce a fiscal stimulus," said Anoop Singh, director of the IMF's Asia and Pacific department.

"It should probably be directed toward consumption and not toward investment."

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