Italy 'happy' to lower deficit target - Deputy PM to paper

Reuters

Published Dec 14, 2018 06:50

Italy 'happy' to lower deficit target - Deputy PM to paper

MILAN (Reuters) - The Italian government is "happy" to be able to lower its deficit target for next year, Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Friday in a newspaper interview.

The government wanted to avoid disciplinary action with Brussels over its 2019 budget, but without betraying pledges made to Italian voters, Di Maio told Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano.

Asked about the economic growth target of 1.5 percent set for 2019, Di Maio said, "the only reason to come down from 1.5 percent could be linked to the slowdown in the last part of the year, caused mainly by exports."