Tunisia has approved a 2012 budget of 22.935 billion dinars (US$15.817 billion) compared with 21.33 billion dinars in 2011, marking a 7.5 per cent rise on the year, the Tunisia state news agency said at the weekend.

The budget includes a forecast for economic expansion of 4.5 per cent in 2012, well up from the anaemic growth of 0.2 per cent estimated this year.

This year's budget includes 5.2bn dinars for development spending compared with 13.5bn last year.

An uprising in January forced veteran leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to leave Tunisia, sparking the "Arab Spring" revolts that have swept the Middle East.

However, the protests and strikes that followed the revolution forced some businesses to suspend operations and also scared away foreign tourists, on whom Tunisia relies for a large part of its revenue.

A moderate Islamist party won the election held in the wake of the revolution, and it is expected to dominate a new coalition government. The party's leaders have promised to pursue liberal, business-friendly economic policies.