BEIRUT - Lebanon's government agreed to raise the minimum wage by 40 percent on Tuesday, averting at the last minute a planned general strike by labour unions.

A late night cabinet meeting approved an increase in the minimum monthly wage to 700,000 Lebanese pounds ($470) from 500,000 pounds. It also approved a 300,000 pound raise for all salaries between 1 million and 1.8 million pounds.

The head of the General Labour Confederation Ghassan Ghosn said that, in response to the cabinet decision, his organisation would suspend a planned general strike on October 12 involving teachers, banks, transport workers and other sectors.

"We agreed to suspend the strike, not to cancel it," Ghosn told a news conference.