KIEV, Sept. 8 - Financial improvement at Naftogaz Ukrayiny, the national oil and gas company, will be the government’s top priority in the energy sector policy in 2009, Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said Monday.

Tymoshenko’s reaction comes days after President President Viktor Yushchenko has urged the goverment for emergency funding to help Naftogaz avoid default on debts before the end of 2008.

“We have to improve finances of Naftogaz Ukrayiny to create a financially powerful company,” Tymoshenko said in a statement issued after her meeting with government officials. “We have to increase domestic production of gas, including from the Black Sea shelf.”