The International Monetary Fund could continue credit cooperation with Ukraine if there is a tightening of budgetary policy, Ukrainian Presidential Secretariat First Deputy Head Oleksandr Shlapak said at a briefing on Friday.

"I consider the possibility of the continuance [of cooperation with the IMF] quite high, if Ukraine... shows not by words, but by its decisions, the readiness to take hard decisions both for the budget and our companies, and for the people, he said.

According to Shlapak, the representatives of the IMF mission that started its work in Kyiv this week are now holding a meeting with the Ukrainian president.

"The mission has a lot of questions. They consider, first of all, the budget deficit, and also the gas problems that have now appeared. They also demand that we tell them how we are balancing our financial and energy flows," he said.