THE World Bank announced yesterday that it had reduced its fiscal 1996 administrative budget by 3.6 per cent while boosting disbursements to member countries.

The bank said assistance pledged to the poorest countries - those with per capita gross national product of $765 (£477.5) or less - came to $9.883 billion.

Of the total, $6.327 billion was administered through the International Development Association, a unit of the bank making no interest loans to poor countries.

The rest came from another arm of the World Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), which deals mainly with countries with stronger credit positions.