Sri Lanka, Oct. 14 -- Sri Lanka plans to overhaul its public procurement system and align budget timelines to speed up execution of capital expenditure projects, President Anura Kumara Dissanayake announced.

Outdated procurement rules create barriers to delivering public investment initiatives funded through the national budget, the Finance Minister explained.

Government sources indicate that less than 30 per cent-roughly 385 billion rupees out of the 1,380 billion rupee capital budget-was utilized during the first nine months of the year.

Persistent under-utilization of capital allocations highlights structural inefficiencies in public financial management and project execution.

An upcoming budget targets a public capital expenditure...