Greece may seek financial help from the International Monetary Fund over the April 2-4 Easter weekend due to little hope for aid from the European Union.

A senior Greek official told Dow Jones Newswires that the prospect of help from the European Union "doesn't look good" and that IMF help would be a prominent scenario if EU help is not forthcoming.

Meanwhile Greece's Prime Minister George Papandreou warned on Thursday that Athens would not be able to make planned deficit cuts unless it can borrow money more cheaply and said he would prefer not to have to turn to the IMF for help.

"But if we keep borrowing at very high rates, and this is the challenge we have, we cannot sustain the deficit reduction that these hard measures aim to achieve," he told a committee in the European Parliament. "We should be able to borrow at rates that are normal."

"We have talked to the IMF, they would have asked us for nothing more. But I would prefer the European solution. I would prefer the European solution as part of the euro zone, as a European," he said.

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