KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan plans to boost growth to 3.6 percent and trim its deficit to 1.2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) next year helped by a decline in global oil prices, the finance minister said on Thursday. Sudan's government passed its 2015 budget proposal at a meeting on Thursday and the draft is set to be discussed by parliament next week before going to a final vote. "Next year's budget targets an increase in the growth rate to 3.6 percent... with a deficit of 1.2 percent of GDP," Badr El-Din Mahmoud told reporters after the cabinet meeting. Sudan targeted growth of 2.6 percent for 2014 and a deficit of 1.5 percent, but it was not clear whether the government was likely to meet those projections after a turbulent year. Sudan's economy was hit hard in 2011, when the south seceded, taking with it three-quarters of the country's oil wealth, estimated at 5 billion barrels of proven reserves by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The Sudanese pound fell as the country lost a key earner of foreign exchange, used to fund purchases of food, and inflation shot up. The government cut fuel subsidies last year in an effort to curb its spending, which further pushed up inflation to levels near an eye-watering 50 percent and prompted major protests against the government. But as an importer of oil, Sudan is now benefiting from the more than 40 percent slump in global oil prices since June. Mahmoud said lower oil prices should help the government reduce spending on subsidies next year. Lower global wheat prices are also expected to save the country some $650 million dollars, he added. Sudan's inflation rate has eased in recent months as oil prices have dropped and the effects of the subsidy cuts have eased. But it remains high, at 25.6 percent for November. Mahmoud said Sudan was hoping to keep inflation relatively stable targeting a level around 25.9 percent by the end of 2015. Sudan also hopes to bring the unemployment rate down to less than 19 percent by the end of next year, he added. Mahmoud declined to give the overall size of projected spending. In the 2014 budget, public spending totalled 58.2 billion Sudanese pounds ($10.26 billion) while estimated revenues amounted to about of 46.2 billion Sudanese pounds. ($1 = 5.6700 Sudanese pounds) (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Mahmoud Mourad; Editing by Lin Noueihed)