KIEV, March 16 – The deficit of Ukraine's national budget for 2009 will amount to UAH 19.4 billion, according to presidential secretariat experts, the secretariat's First Deputy Chairman Oleksandr Shlapak said at a briefing on Monday.

"The general fund of the national budget will fall short by UAH 19.4 billion," he said.

According to Shlapak, this forecast is similar to those made by International Monetary Fund experts, who predict the deficit of Ukraine's national budget in 2009 at about UAH 20 billion.