Ireland sees budget gap reaching 12.5 pct/GDP

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan said on Thursday he wanted to stabilise the budget deficit at 12.5 percent of gross domestic product, in an apparent slight upward adjustment of his previous forecast.

"With further weakening on the tax side... it's now at 12.5percent, Lenihan told a conference. "We have to stabilise and lock in at that figure.

"We won't have credibility on world markets and won't... demonstrate the capacity to run our own affairs if we don't lockin at that 12.5 percent now" said Lenihan, who had earlier forecast a 12 percent budget gap for 2009 and 2010.