BEIRUT: Lebanon's 2012 budget will increase by around 15 percent, Economy Minister Mohammad Safadi told Reuters late Tuesday.

"The budget will increase by 15 percent roughly. Our deficit will not be more than $3 billion at best. So we'll be borrowing," Reuters quoted Safadi as saying.

Safadi has previously said he hopes to have the budget complete this month.

The draft budget for 2011 put spending at LL19.77 trillion ($13.1 billion), an increase of 1.2 percent, with a projected deficit of $3.6 billion.

"Our expectations, it [inflation] will not be less than 3 percent next year. But we are expecting growth of not less than 4 percent real GDP growth in 2012," Safadi said on the sidelines of a reception in Abu Dhabi's luxurious Emirates Palace hotel.

In April the International Monetary Fund was forced to revise down an initial assessment of Lebanon’s growth from 6.5 percent to 2.5 percent, largely as a result of the collapse of the government in January. - With Reuters