The populist government feels "great satisfaction" at the deal that premier Giuseppe Conte clinched with Brussels to avert European Union sanctions over Italy's big-spending plans, finance minister Giovanni Tria said on Wednesday.
"There is great satisfaction that we have avoided an EU infraction procedure," Tria, a non-affiliated technocrat, told reporters outside the Italian Senate.
Italy's deficit-to-GDP ratio would "climb slightly in 2018 before falling in 2019," said Tria.
Conte earlier told the Senate that under his deal with the European Commission on Wednesday, the government had trimmed its 2019 budget deficit target to 2.04 percent from 2.4 percent while protecting its flagship measures including the chance to retire younger and a universal income for the poorest - all to be rolled in the new year.
The government also cut its 2019 growth forecast to 1.0 percent from 1.5 percent, Conte said.
The Commission said it will allow Italy to escape financial sanctions for breaking EU fiscal rules provided that the agreed measures are fully implemented. It said it would be checking that Italy kept to the terms of the deal.
