Helsinki - The prime minister of Iceland said Monday he
hoped the cash-strapped North Atlantic nation will be able to get
loans from its Nordic neighbours.
'We hope for a quick response,' Prime Minister Geir Haarde told
reporters before a meeting of Nordic prime ministers in Finland.
The global financial crisis that has battered Iceland was one of
the main topics at the meeting of the Nordic Council organization
that groups Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden as well as
three self-ruling territories including Greenland.
Haarde said many of Iceland's 320,000 inhabitants will be hit by
the crisis that has seen the collapse of its three largest commercial
banks.
It will be 'painful' he said citing that some will lose their
jobs, others will lose their savings, and that the crisis will set
Iceland back some five years.
On Friday, Reykjavik and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
signed a deal for a 2.1-billion-dollar emergency loan from the IMF to
help stabilize Iceland's economy.
The deal with the IMF, that needs approval by the IMF board, was
the first by a western country since the mid-1970s when Britain
signed a similar deal.
However, it is estimated that Iceland needs an additional 4
billion dollars in loans although Haarde did not specify the sum
Monday.
The central banks of Denmark, Norway and Sweden in May signed a
swap facility arrangement with the Icelandic central bank which
recently drew 400 million euros (543 million dollars) from Denmark
and Norway.
The financial unrest has fuelled support in Iceland for joining
the European Union, according to a poll commissioned by the
Frettabladid newspaper.
The weekend poll of some 800 people suggested more than two in
three supported an EU application, up from one in two in February.
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