US invests $553m in Adani port in Lanka to curb China’s influence

Team Blitz India

NEW DELHI: The US will provide $553 million in financing for a port terminal in Colombo being developed by Gautam Adani, as New Delhi and Washington look to curtail China’s influence in South Asia.

The funding from International Development Finance Corp. underscores renewed US and Indian efforts to loosen Beijing’s sway over Sri Lanka after Colombo borrowed heavily to splurge on Chinese port and highway projects before its economic meltdown last year.

The deepwater West Container Terminal in Colombo is the US government agency’s largest infrastructure investment in Asia, and among its biggest globally. “It will bolster Sri Lanka’s economic growth and its regional economic integration, including with India, a key partner to both countries,” DFC said in a statement.