Italian deputy PM says government will not lower 2019 deficit goal

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio on Saturday said the government would not backtrack on a plan to raise the country's budget deficit to 2.4 percent of domestic output next year.

"I think I can speak for the whole government, I deny any rethinking of the 2.4 percent [goal]," he told journalists in Rome.

(Reporting by Valentina Za. Editing by Jane Merriman)