A World Bank official has warned Ukraine that the Bank might cut off all its cooperation with the country unless its Communist-dominated parliament stops blocking vital economic legislation.

The official, Paul Siegelbaum, was speaking days after the parliament refused to ratify a deal with the World Bank to protect foreign investors from the risks of political and economic instability.

The International Monetary Fund suspended its loans to Ukraine in September, saying it would only resume them if parliament adopted vital economic reforms and a realistic budget for 1999.

The World Bank has offered Ukraine some nine-hundred-and-fifty million dollars in loans