The situation with the program of cooperation between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ukraine has remained unchanged over the last two weeks. The situation with the program of cooperation between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Ukraine has remained unchanged over the last two weeks, as the fund still expects consensus from the Ukrainian authorities on a realistic budget, Director of the IMF External Relations Department Caroline Atkinson has said.

"We need to have a full consensus behind a sustainable budget position that will avoid inflation or any increase in unemployment," she said at a regular biweekly press briefing in Washington on Nov. 19.

Atkinson said that the fact that the Ukrainian parliament had yet failed to pass any fruitful decision after the first consideration of the draft state budget for 2010 does not change the situation.

"On Ukraine, I can point you to a Q&A survey on our Web site from the mission chief, Ceyla Pazarbasioglu. And that pointed out the need, the importance of having a sustainable budget position, and that [in turn] was connected with the budget law. So from our point of view, it's the same situation," she said.