CRI听力：Medvedev Pledges No Currency Debasement

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has warned that next year the country would face its first budget deficit in a decade.

Medvedev made the remark on Wednesday. He said hard currency accumulated during an eight-year economic boom driven by high oil revenues would help soften the impact of the crisis, but unemployment may rise from the current six percent.(www.hXen.com)

"We naturally may lose something because of the crisis - the tempo of growth, real industry development, which we planned. Crisis is crisis. But we must not lose any of our social achievements which have been made over the past year."

Medvedev said the nation was in a difficult economic situation, but made assurances that it was not in danger of defaulting and would not devalue the currency.

"Russia is able to pay its debts. The volume of our internal debt means that there can't be any default. We don't expect any (ruble) debasement, it's absolutely nonsense. As regards the ruble rate, it should be effective and it should reflect the real state of our economy."

The ruble has fallen about 11 percent over the past six weeks.

Russia, which last year registered a more than eight percent economic expansion, is facing a severe slowdown.

But Medvedev pledged to fulfil the country's social projects, including costly plans to modernize education and health care.