EU lending arm EIB set to keep tight Turkey restrictions in place

The European Union's lending arm, the European Investment Bank, expects to keep its lending heavily restricted in Turkey this year, as an EU row with Ankara over oil and gas drilling off Cyprus rumbles on.

Asked about the EIB's lending restrictions, a spokesman for the bank told Reuters it would continue to act "in line with the approach adopted by the EU Member States and the EU Commission."

He added: "Unless there is a change in direction at EU level, we will probably maintain the selective approach (to lending in Turkey) we have had in the past couple of years, at least for the foreseeable future".