OSAKA -- The Osaka Municipal Government is seeking 4.4 trillion yen for the 1998 fiscal budget, a 1.7 percent increase over the previous year, according to the proposed budget announced Friday.

The proposal, to be submitted to the city assembly for approval next month, includes a 28.5 billion yen deficit in the general account, which will be covered by the issuance of special bonds. City-issued bonds outstanding in both general and special accounts are expected to total nearly 6.4 trillion yen, an increase of nearly 500 billion yen over 1997.

"We continue to face tough times, but I am happy to report that, in the general account, we have a slight reduction in expenses, from 1.88 trillion yen to about 1.87 trillion yen," Mayor Takafumi Isomura said. Among the expenditures is the controversial plan to pump 70 billion yen into failing third-sector projects, including the Asian Trade Center, the Osaka City Air Terminal and the World Trade Center. The city says these three projects alone have lost 50 billion yen so far, but private estimates put the figure at 68 billion yen.

Under the current proposal, ATC will receive a cash infusion of 3.3 billion yen in fiscal 1998 and a total of 22.7 billion yen by 2003. WTC will receive 4 billion yen this year, and 32 billion yen by 2005. OCAT will get 2.4 billion yen this year, and 14.6 billion yen by 2003. Additional expenses include 6.7 billion yen on Olympics-related activities, including an extensive public relations campaign in both Japan and overseas. This is down considerably from the nearly 19 billion yen spent last year on strictly domestic Olympics promotional activities.