12/11/2018 (Agence Europe) – While Rome has until Tuesday 13 November to present a revised 2019 draft budget plan to the European Commission respecting the rules of the preventive arm of the Stability and Growth Pact which provides for a reduction of its structural deficit by 0.6% of GDP (see EUROPE 12130), the Italian authorities clearly do not intend to change course. The Italian Deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio said, on Monday 12 November, that he "fully" agreed with Giovanni Tria, Minister of Finance, that complying with European budgetary rules would be "a suicide" for a country with sluggish growth. According to the Italian Statistical Institute (Istat), Italian GDP is expected to grow by +0.4% in the fourth quarter of 2018 with the aim of an annual growth rate of 1.2%, a figure put forward by Rome. The Italian GDP growth was zero in the third quarter. (LT)