Japan to propose bailout fund at G-7

TOKYO: Japan is set to propose to the world's leading industrialized nations that a joint fund be set up to give emergency loans to nations hit by the growing financial crisis, a Japanese media report said on Friday.

Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa will make the proposal at the Group of Seven meeting of finance and central bank officials in Washington on Friday, according to The Nikkei, a business daily.

The proposal will call for setting up a cooperative scheme through the International Monetary Fund to dole out emergency lending to nations whose financial systems run out of cash, The Nikkei said without citing sources.

China and Middle Eastern nations will also be asked to contribute money to the fund, the report said.

Finance Ministry officials were not immediately available for comment on the report. The fallout from the US credit crisis is spreading to Europe and other parts of the world.