The European Investment Bank (EIB) will not do any new lending in Turkey linked to the government until at least the end of the year while it carries out a strategy review, Reuters reports.
The move is part of a European Union decision earlier this month to symbolically punish Turkey over what it calls “illegal” drilling for oil and gas off Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean Sea.
The EIB, which is Turkey’s largest single lender, has spent between 0.4 billion euros ($446 million) and 2.2 billion euros ($2.45 billion) a year in the country over the last three years, while nothing has been invested so far in 2019.
The freeze is not currently expected to affect private sector projects and the bank could still sign nearly 350 million euros worth of deals before the end of the year if it gets the green light from EU finance ministers on the EIB board.
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