PM forms committee for Pakistan Steel Mills financial bailout

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister, Justice (Retd) Mir Hazar Khan Khoso on Friday constituted a three-member committee for preparing concrete and practical recommendations to overcome present financial woes of Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM).

The committee consists of secretaries of ministries of finance and production, and chief executive officer (CEO) of Pakistan Steel Mills.

The Prime Minister constituted the committee while presiding a meeting held here to review overall performance of PSM, its issues and challenges. It was attended by Minister for Production, Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Sheikh and representatives of ministries of finance, planning and production, and management of PSM.

In his briefing, Secretary, Ministry of Production, Shahid Ullah Baig apprised the prime minister of the PSM history, issues and its performance.

He informed that basic cause of losses incurred by PSM was due to its inability to utilize its capacity and that it would break even only if its production was 75% of the total capacity.

The Prime Minister was also informed that four bailout packages had been given to PSM, but they could not impact on its performance as the financial commitments made were released in piecemeal.

Prime Minister Khoso said that PSM is a strategic asset and that it should be managed in a manner that the losses can be reduced.