* Rouble hits fresh record low
* Central bank says will defend trading boundary
* Finmin forecasts 6.1 percent budget deficit, capital outflows
* Economists see rouble at 41.56 to basket end-2009
(Adds c.bank decision to raise some rates)
By Gleb Bryanski and Yelena Fabrichnaya
MOSCOW, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Russia's central bank vowed to defend its floor for the rouble on Friday as the currency sank to fresh record lows and its Finance Minister outlined forecasts for a year of no growth and a hefty budget shortfall.
As a first step, the central bank raised interest rates on some operations to fight inflation and stabilise rouble's exchange rate.
But the banks press release had no mention of any changes in minimal interest rates for REPO options, the main tool for liquidity injections.
The rouble fell as far as 40.40 versus a euro-dollar basket, just 2 percent away from the 41 level set by the central bank as the boundary of its trading band last week, as it tried to put an end to 2-1/2 months of weakening.
Russia has allowed the currency to lose over a fifth of its value since November to adjust to a dive in commodity and oil prices and the worst economic outlook in a decade.
But making the fall gradual has cost Moscow a third of its currency reserves amid political concerns on the impact on ordinary Russians -- mindful of the last major crisis in 1998, when the currency lost over two-thirds of its value in a year.
Officials now say the rouble is near fair value, but markets are expected to test the central bank's resolve to defend the new trading corridor.
"There is going to be one almighty fight at 41," said a dealer at a foreign bank in Moscow. Dealers said the central bank did not intervene to support the rouble on Friday.
Central bank chairman Sergei Ignatyev affirmed the regulator's commitment to the band, saying it will be defended with market interventions and interest rates.
The rouble also hit record lows of 46.40 per euro and 35.83 per dollar, before slightly trimming losses.
Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said it could weaken further to 36 per dollar in the current climate, but added that Russia's rouble policy had not changed and the adjustments which have happened were necessary corrections.
Economists polled by Reuters saw the rouble ending the year at 41.45 to the basket, only around 3.4 percent off current levels and just slightly beyond the central bank's trading boundary. Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said this year would likely bring zero growth, a budget deficit of 6.1 percent based on current spending plans and capital outflows of $100 billion.
"That is a fairly high deficit, even by crisis standards," Kudrin told the Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament.
He said budget revenues would fall to 6.5 trillion roubles this year, a third lower than had been projected originally, when Russia hoped oil would cost $95 rather than $41.
One advantage of the weakening rouble, highlighted by Kudrin, is that it raises the value of Russia's dollar export revenues, partially compensating for falling prices.
RESERVES NEEDED
Though glum, his outlook was brighter than some expected -- Russian newspapers had reported that the deficit would be at least 7 percent this year, while some analysts expect the economy to contract by as much as 3 percent.
With such an outlook, Russia's remaining $386.5 billion of currency reserves are a key asset which will enable it to prop up the economy, plug holes in the budget and defend its currency.
"We should not spend all our reserves during the current year," Shuvalov told the Duma, adding that the current crisis will likely last three years and Russia may need the cash later.
Another way to help the rouble is for the central bank to limit its liquidity offerings to the banking sector, which could potentially prompt banks to start converting dollar and euro holders back into the rouble.
On Friday, the central bank slashed the money on offer at its first daily repo auction by 100 billion roubles to 375 billion. Bids at the tender exceeded supply by over 50 percent.
"It is quite a fast move (to the central bank boundary) and I think we will get there in coming days, not weeks," said Julia Tsepliaeva, chief economist for Russia and CIS at Merrill Lynch.
"There, at least for propriety's sake, they will have to defend it for a while ... I do not see why the exchange rate should be much weaker than the suggested level. But with such heated expectations of devaluation it is more difficult."
The bank also raised rates for fixed-rate REPOs and lombard loans.
From Feb. 2 the rates will rise to 11 percent from 10 pct on one-day and seven-day fixed-rate REPOs, the bank said in a press release. Rates for lombard notes for one day to 30 days will rise to 11 percent from 10-10.25 percent. (Additional reporting by Toni Vorobyova and Andrei Ostroukh) (Writing by Toni Vorobyova; editing by Patrick Graham and Stephen Nisbet)