French finance minister says budget deficit will be below 3 percent of GDP in 2019

VIENNA (Reuters) - French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Saturday the government will keep its pledge to hold the budget deficit under 3 percent of gross domestic product next year.

"We will meet our target to be under 3 percent (of GDP) in 2019. The recovery of public accounts is non-negotiable," Le Maire said on the sidelines of a meeting of European finance ministers in Vienna.

Separately, le Maire said he was confident that Italian leaders were aware of the importance of decisions to be taken as part of the next budget.

He said he had had a lot of discussions with his Italian counterpart, Giovanni Tria.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas and Inti Landauro; Editing by Kevin Liffey)