Closed Pakistan Steel Mills racks up Rs79.3 billion losses in three years

Profit, citing Ministry of Industries figures, reported that the shuttered Pakistan Steel Mills has piled up Rs79.3 billion in losses across the last three fiscal years. The state-owned mill has produced nothing since June 2015, yet interest on old borrowings made up 72% of that total, or Rs57.4 billion. Its loss for FY2025-26 alone came to Rs24 billion.

Annual interest costs reached Rs17.7 billion in FY2025-26, roughly Rs1.3 billion less than a year earlier because rates fell. Of that, Rs11.8 billion went on government loans and Rs5.2 billion on commercial bank borrowing. As of FY2024-25 the cash development loan was Rs108 billion, and bank loans topped Rs40 billion, mostly owed to National Bank of Pakistan.

The Central Monitoring Unit had proposed restructuring through debt-to-equity swaps, negotiated write-downs and a government-led clean-up that moves liabilities into a holding company, yet none of it was implemented. It also flagged Rs40 billion in guarantees needed to avoid default. Salaries cost Rs3.9 billion over three years and halved in FY2025-26, while Rs9.1 billion covered fuel, electricity, water and gas costs, with that spending down by about a third last year. The unit suggested tie-ups with international steelmakers for know-how and outside funding, alongside changes in how debt and subsidies are governed and modernisation of operations.