TOKYO (AFX-ASIA) - Spending requests for the the year to March 2003 general budget, to be submitted by the end of this month, are expected to total about 85 trln yen, almost 2 trln yen more than the size of the year to March 2002 budget, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported, without citing sources. The budget requests include 47.8 trln yen for general expenditures and an estimated 18 trln yen for paying off interest and redeeming government bonds, it said.