(Adds details from Wolfowitz news conference, paragraphs 14-16)

By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON, April 11 (Reuters) - World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said on Wednesday he was comfortable with an ethics committee investigation into the promotion and salary increase of a staff member whom he is dating.

"The committee is dealing with it and I am comfortable with that," Wolfowitz told Reuters in an interview.

The World Bank chief this week pledged to cooperate fully in the review by the ethics committee of the bank's board of member countries of the promotion and pay rise of Shaha Riza, with whom he has a relationship.

The probe is focused on whether Wolfowitz gave preferential treatment to Riza, violating staff rules. While still a bank employee, Riza was transferred to the State Department in 2005.

Wolfowitz joined the bank in mid-2005 after serving as deputy defense secretary at the Pentagon, where he was one of the chief architects of the Bush administration's war strategy in Iraq.

The issue surrounding Riza threatens to cloud meetings of finance and development ministers in Washington this week, where Wolfowitz will be leading discussions on the developing world and measures to reduce poverty.

But on Wednesday, Wolfowitz tried to keep the focus on the bank and its mission to fight poverty, scolding rich countries, including the United States, for not increasing aid to poor countries.

He said assistance from the world's richest countries had declined by 5 percent overall, despite promises by industrial nations in 2005 to significantly scale up aid.

"We have yet to see evidence of significant new flows translate into real resources for development programs on the ground," Wolfowitz said.

"Counting everything, there has been a 5 percent decline in development assistance in the last year, which is hardly a way to get to a scaling up," Wolfowitz said. "An awful lot of what we are getting is not usable in the form that countries can use to make long-term plans."

The controversy over Riza erupted last week when the bank's staff association questioned her promotion to a senior position and pay increases, which it said was more than double the amount allowed under staff rules.

In a note to staff on Monday, Wolfowitz said he would ensure the board had access to the facts in the case.

Riza worked at the bank for eight years and was a senior communications adviser in its Middle East department when she was transferred to the State Department on an external assignment for the bank in 2005.

Later on Wednesday, at a news conference to discuss the upcoming meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, Wolfowitz was bombarded with questions about his involvement in the terms of Riza's promotion and pay raise.

"Look, you're not going to get more out of me than what I just said and I don't think it's fair to the rest of agenda to take this valuable time," Wolfowitz snapped, when reporters pressed him for answers on the Riza issue.

"Hopefully at some point in the future I'll be able to answer all your questions."

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