Premier Wen Jiabao said Sunday Chinese people should be proud of their country's economic performance and the basket of economic stimulus measures had proven effective, but he readily admitted the economy had problems.

In an exclusive interview with Xinhua, Wen said China would stick to the pro-growth economic policies, while taking more measures to curb property speculation and maintain consumer prices at a reasonable range.

He acknowledged the Chinese economy could have been better "if our bank lending had been more balanced, better structured and not on such a large scale."

Wen also dismissed foreign pressure to allow the Chinese currency yuan to appreciate, saying demand for yuan appreciation, along with trade protectionism, was aimed at checking China's development.

(CCTV.com, Xinhua News Agency December 27, 2009)