TOKYO. Dec I I World Bank President James WoUensohn on Monday urged Japan not to ■ nt hack its financial assistant ■ to developing countries, says AP.

The Japanese government and the Japanese people have long recognized that (official development assistance) (o the developing world is not a charity - it is part ol Japan s growth." said Wolfensohn. in Tokvo for a conference

Japan, the worlds largest donor of ODA. last year con tributed S15 3 billion and so far tins year has spent 89.37 bil

lion.

In recent weeks. Japanese lawmakers have been disenss-ing whether to scale back lor-eign aid as a way of reining in the country s ballooning fiscal debt Ils debt is expect cd Io exceed 130 per cent of its gross domestic product by March, the highest among industrialized countries

Woifensohn said he was not surprised by the government's debate, but he warned that It Japan slashes ODA by as much as 30 per cent, as some media reports say. it would have an

enormous impact" on the health of smaller countries.

Regarding Russia. Wollen-sohn said the World Bank will likelv approve a loan to th.it country worth dlrs Mon million over the next couple of years Woltmsohn met in October with Russian President Vladimir Putin

I told the president that we arc very anxious to support them, he said, adding (hat the hank will set loan conditions that reflect the Russian government's own economic and political reforms