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. (dpa)