German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Thursday for reforms to the Washington-based international lending institutions that lie at the heart of the global financial system to adapt them to a rapidly changing world.

The World Bank needed a capital increase, she said, and the IMF a change to the quotas that allocate voting rights to members. Merkel has several times called in recent days for reforms to international organisations to accommodate the rapid rise of China.

"Things have to happen that we've been waiting for for years," she said at a joint briefing she held with Klaus Schwab, head of the World Economic Forum.