Iceland c.bank may have lost large sums, PM says

REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland's prime minister said on Friday the country's central bank may have lost as much as 150 billion Icelandic crowns (768.2 million pounds) from loans it made to local banks, although precise figures were not yet available.

The Icelandic crown has traded only sporadically on international markets since the crisis erupted. It was quoted on Thursday around 200 per euro and at that rate the central bank's losses would total some 750 million euros (589 million pounds).

Prime Minister Geir Haarde told parliament the losses stemmed from loans the central bank had made that were backed by collateral that is now worth less than previously thought.

The central bank's own funds amount to some 90 billion crowns and Haarde said in a televised debate that Iceland's Treasury would issue bonds to provide the central bank with additional money.

The central bank's reserves in convertible foreign currencies, as of September, totalled some 366 billion Icelandic crowns. At the exchange rate prevailing at the end of the month, that was worth about 2.44 billion euros.

(Reporting by Omar Valdimarsson in Reykjavik via Stockholm newsroom, editing by Mike Peacock)