Islamabad, Oct 22: Shaukat Tareen, the Pakistan Prime Minister’s Financial Adviser, has said that his country needed five billion dollars from multilateral lenders and friendly countries to avert the impending balance of payments (BoP) crisis.

He said the PPP-led federal government had estimated that it would need an amount ranging between 3.4 and 4.5 billion dollars, but multilateral lenders had assessed the country would need five billion dollars to bridge the gap in the balance of payments.

“I never said that Pakistan is seeking 10-15 billion dollars assistance from multilateral lenders, including the IMF,” the Dawn quoted him as saying.

Reykjavik/Oslo - Norway and Britain were Wednesday reported to be considering loans and other assistance to financially-troubled Iceland.

The economy of the North Atlantic nation of some 300,000 people has come under severe strain amid the global credit crunch.

A Norwegian delegation was heading for Iceland to discuss the situation and "how Norway can possibly help," Norwegian Transport and Communications Minister Liv Signe Navarsete told broadcaster NRK.

Madrid - While world leaders have fretted over a financial crisis that seemed to bring the global economy to the verge of collapse, Emilio Botin has kept his calm.

"Crisis? Who is in crisis?" the president of the Spanish banking giant Santander, whose capacity to weather the turmoil has impressed the world, asked in July.

"Not Santander," Botin answered his own question. "The crisis is like a child's fever. It starts very strong, then goes down."

Last week, the 74-year-old veteran banker spoke about the crisis with more concern, but dismissed talk of it originating in the United States or in subprime mortgages.

Warsaw - Michal Sikorski senses the fear in his dwindling community of Polish workers in Iceland as the global financial crisis spreads.

Once drawn in by Iceland's construction and service industries, Poles left by the hundreds in recent weeks as work dried up. Then, the country's financial collapse threatened to wipe out the money they had made in search of a better life.

"People are afraid they'll lose their savings," said Sikorski, a diplomat at the Polish consulate in Reykjavik. "In Poland, maybe they'll earn a bit less but at least they will be with family, in their country."

Nairobi - It has been a tough year for Peter Kinywa, a trader in one of Nairobi's touristy Masai markets.

Business has plummeted as tourists stay away from Kenya following the bloody post-election chaos early this year, and soaring food and fuel prices have put more pressure on his dwindling budget.

Yet the misery looks set to continue for Peter, 45, and others like him as the effects of the global credit crisis begin to trickle also into Africa.

Africa's economy has so far remained relatively unscathed by the global financial meltdown, largely due to its limited exposure to global markets.

But Africa's economies are not immune, only isolated, and Kinywa says he is already beginning to feel the pinch.

Tokyo - Japan's central bank has supplied 50.17 billion dollars in its first unlimited dollar-supplying money market operation, the bank said Wednesday.

The Bank of Japan's move to lend dollar funds at a fixed rate for one month was intended to ease the stress in the short-term money markets.