KIEV, December 18. /TASS/. The IMF may freeze the Western financial assistance to Ukraine if the Ukrainian government acts not in compliance with the fund’s requirements, according to a statement made by IMF's first deputy director David Lipton on Friday.

In particular, the budget of Ukraine should be approved in compliance with the requirements of the IMF, Lipton said.

He stressed that the IMF is concerned about the discussions in the Ukrainian parliament, which effectively rejected the government proposal for a new tax code and the draft budget for 2016.

Ukraine will have to cut social spending if it wants to continue receiving assistance from the IMF, Pavel Nefidov, director of the Financial and Banking Council of CIS said in an interview with TASS.