ISLAMABAD - Economist and former Federal Finance Minister Dr.Salman Shah said that Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) had completed its life and now it required major investments to higher its capacity of production to make it profit earning entity. Talking to Radio Pakistan, he said that PSM could meet the running expenditures until it would be privatized and would be burden on national budget.
He said that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would also question the government for dolling money in the PSM in future.  He said this institution should be privatized because it has a large number of employees.
Therefore, its revenue is less than its expenditures. Government assures to provide all possible assistance for complete revival of the Mills, he added. Dr. Salman Shah said production capacity of Pakistan Steel Mills has significantly improved because of installation of new machinery and units.
Economist Mirza Ikhtiar Baig said that volume of production of Pakistan Steel Mills is at its minimum as compared to steel mills of other countries. He said low productivity has increased the cost of production of Pak Steel.
He said that PSM was not running on full production capacity; therefore it should be run on full optimum production capacity to reduce the cost of production.
He said that efficiency and morale of PSM employees and workers also needed to be boosted to get desired results.  He said that PSM was always used as vehicle to provide jobs and consequently PSM collapsed. He said that government had announced to check supply of funds to bad public sector enterprises; therefore, PSM should be privatized to stop wastage of national exchequer. He said that almost all privatized public sector organizations had been transformed into profit earning mode, therefore, government could go for downsizing or right sizing options in the PSM to reduce the expenditures.