MADRID -- The International Monetary Fund and World Bank ended a 50th anniversary bash Thursday by promising to do more to help the 1 billion people still living in poverty.


Michel Camdessus, managing director of the IMF, announced rich and poor nations were close to ending a stalemate over a hefty $52 billion increase in assistance aimed at weak economies.


"I am confident in the coming weeks we will have an agreement on this package,'' he said in wrapping up a nearly two-week long conference of the IMF and its sister agency, the World Bank.


The giant institutions, created out of the wreckage of World War II, lend billions of dollar annually to financially indebted nations.


On the eve of the agencies' annual meetings, poor nations put up unexpectedly stiff opposition to a modest aid proposal by the United States, Germany and other economic powerhouses.


The fight, casting a cloud over the anniversary celebrations, centered on Camdessus' proposal for the equivalent of $52 billion in new reserves for the IMF's 179 member nations.


The rich nations were only willing to authorize an increase of $23.4 billion.


The extra money would be used by poor nations and former communist ones in Eastern Europe to buy imports, pay interest on foreign debts and cover other financial needs.


Camdessus refused to say how the differences would be resolved, but he said his proposal remained on the table.


Separately, World Bank President Lewis Preston, a target of protests by ecologists, complained, "There was a deliberate attempt by some to distract attention from the development agenda during these meetings.''


"My message to them is simply this: We will not be distracted; We are more committed than ever before to help the poor,'' he told reporters.


Finance ministers and central bankers from the member nations used the meeting to press the institutions for changes. Developing nations called for more money for weak economies. They also said women, the poor and others should play a more active part in designing and running aid projects.


Rich nations wanted the IMF and World Bank to make wiser use of the loans they make. They also called on the IMF to be on guard for dangerous economic trends, such as skyrocketing inflation rates.


Overall, the meeting, held in a modern glass-and-marble conference center on the outskirts of Madrid, was upbeat.


The global economy is in better shape than it has been for years.


Industrial nations, vital for the world's economic health, are pulling out of a prolonged slump. Inflation rates are low, although the IMF cautioned the United States and other economic giants to act quickly if prices surge.


Mexico and some other nations in Latin America have recovered from the foreign debt crisis that in the 1980s appeared to dash hopes of an economic rebound anytime soon.


In Asia, China's economy is one of the fastest growing in the world, attracting foreign investment along with the magnetic draw of the "Tigers'' of Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea and others.


Still, conference speakers told the IMF and World Bank that there was no reason for complacency.


Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, long a recipient of IMF and World Bank aid, is expected to grow by the year 2000.


"The clearest point of consensus emerging from these meetings is that the development agenda remains enormous,'' Preston said. He said a billion people live "in grinding poverty'' and nearly 4 million children die annually "of easily preventable diseases.''


"There will be 3 billion more people within the next generation -- people with desperate need for clean water, sanitation, electricity and other basic needs,'' he said.


He said the World Bank has become one of the leading lenders of money for health, education, family planning and environmental protection.


For years, the bank focused much of its lending on road, ports and other infrastructure projects. Critics complained the building programs harmed the environment and displaced poor families in the way of the construction.


Two demonstrators from the environmental group Greenpeace stole the show at opening ceremonies by scaling steel girders to shower fake dollar bills on delegates. Some of the notes, issued by "World Bankenstein,'' fluttered down while Spanish King Juan Carlos spoke to the participants.


Preston criticized the Greenpeace protesters saying Spanish authorities viewed their demonstration as an insult to their country and monarch.