The Russian rouble has continued to fall in currency dealing in Moscow.

Its official rate was set at just under twenty roubles to the dollar, almost a third lower than a month ago.

The Prime Minister, Yevgeni Primakov, told an economic forum in Moscow that the continuing crisis had eroded the confidence Russians felt in economic reform, and that future policies would have to take into account the country's special circumstances.

He said what was needed was social stability and socially oriented reforms.

Meanwhile, President Yeltsin's spokesman has said the Russian head of state is fit enough to return to work after being hospitalised following a bout of pneumonia.

But his doctors have asked him to wait for a full recovery before returning to the Kremlin.