A Manhattan judge said the city’s yellow-cab industry is so shaky that he was afraid of making any sudden moves in the debt case against taxi king Gene Freidman — lest the jurist risk crippling the ­beleaguered industry.

“It’s like people listening to the Federal Reserve,” said Manhattan Supreme Justice Jeffrey Oing. “I’m trying to avoid seizure here because of the ripple effect. It’s a fragile situation.”

Hack honcho Freidman, who owns 900 medallions, is facing foreclosure on 90 of his permits because he owes Citibank more than $31 million, according to the financial giant’s lawsuit.

Freidman’s lawyer has said the bank is bailing as the changing industry faces competition from Uber, Lyft and other app-based services.

The lawyer, Brett Berman, begged Oing to give his client two weeks to hatch a deal with a mysterious hedge-fund investor interested in taking over the Citibank debt.

Oing said he was holding off on green-lighting the foreclosure because he doesn’t want to interfere with the hedge-fund deal, but he was skeptical of the lawyer’s assurance that the medallions will hold their value — $950,000 a piece in March, down from $1.05 million in 2013.

“One minute they can be flush in terms of value, a split second later they can be worth much less,” Oing said.

In a statement released after the court hearing Freidman claimed that he was immediately prepared to pay off his debts.

He gave Berman until May 19 to make a deal.