Ukraine will offer the International Monetary Fund (IMF) a scheme for reducing the deficit of the National JSC Naftogaz Ukrainy that will not affect the poor, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Yuriy Boiko has said.

"We have found a model, which we will offer the IMF, that will allow us to reduce Naftogaz Ukrainy's deficit without affecting socially vulnerable segments of the population," he said at a press briefing on Thursday.

Boiko said that this scheme involved the steps that Ukraine was taking as part of the European Energy Community, in particular for the opening of a market for private companies from both east and west.

Through such activities Ukraine has managed to greatly reduce the volumes of natural gas purchased from Russia's gas giant Gazprom, the deputy prime minister added.