Afghanistan cricket team arrives in Pakistan to play first Champions Trophy tournament 

ISLAMABAD: Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Albert P. Khorev has announced cooperation with Islamabad this year in the energy and industrial sectors, including the modernization of a state-owned steel mill, Pakistani state media reported on Wednesday.

A team of technical experts from Russia was in Pakistan last month to assess Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), one of several firms Pakistan wants to sell to revive loss-making entities as it strives to deliver reforms under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund bailout.

Islamabad has for years been pumping billions of dollars into cash-bleeding state enterprises to keep them afloat, including one of the largest loss-making enterprises, Pakistan International Airline, and PSM, once the producer of almost half the country’s steel needs but which has been in decline since 2008 due to corruption, mismanagement, and a lack of investment. 

As of August 2024, the accumulated losses of the mills stood at over $800 million. PSM has not produced steel at its 19,000-acre facility since June 2015.

“Ambassador Khorev has said that Russia and Pakistan will focus on cooperation in energy and industry including the modernization of the Steel Mills, agriculture and transport in 2025,” state news agency, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), said. 

Pakistan and Russia, once Cold War rivals, have strengthened their relationship in recent years through increased dialogue and trade, including in 2023 when Pakistan began purchasing discounted Russian crude oil that had been banned from European markets due to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Islamabad also received its first shipment of liquified petroleum gas from Russia that year. 

It is targeting 100,000 bpd of imports from Russia, compared with the total 154,000 bpd of crude it imported in 2022, in the hopes that will lower its import bill, address a foreign exchange crisis and keep a lid on inflation.

However, the benefits are being offset by increased shipping costs and lower quality refined products compared with the fuels produced with crude from Pakistan’s main suppliers, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Energy imports make up the majority of the South Asian country’s external payments.

“Russia stands ready to intensify cooperation with Pakistan on the use of international transport corridors,” APP quoted the Russian ambassador as saying. 

These include the Pakistan Stream gas project, also known as the North-South gas pipeline, which is to be built in collaboration with Russian companies. The 1,100 km (683 mile)-long pipeline will deliver imported LNG from Karachi on the Arabian Sea coast to power plants in the northeastern province of Punjab. Another corridor is the Trans-Afghan Multimodal Transport Corridor, which will run from northeastern Kazakhstan via Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and onward by sea to the port of Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.

The statement also quoted Khorev as saying Russia was considering being involved in the modernization of the Quetta-Taftan railway line, one of the main railway lines in Pakistan. and increasing maritime cargo transportation.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s car sales surged by 61 percent year-on-year (YoY) in January due to lower interest rates, increased customer confidence and newer variants entering the market, a top brokerage house said in its report this week. 

Pakistan car sales were clocked in at 17,010 units in January 2025, reflecting a 61 percent YoY surge and a 73 percent month-on-month (MoM) increase, Topline Securities said in its report on Tuesday. 

Pakistan’s central bank last month announced cutting its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 12 percent. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has slashed rates from an all-time high of 22 percent in June 2024 in one of the most aggressive moves among central banks of emerging markets. Lower interest rates charged by the SBP means commercial banks also lower the interest rates they charge on loans, including auto loans. 

“The YoY rise in car sales is driven by lowered interest rates, improved consumer confidence, and the introduction of newer variants and models,” Topline Securities said in its report. 

“MoM increase is primarily due to the low base effect, as December sales are typically low with buyers delaying purchases for new-year registrations, and SAZEW data not being released leading to an uptick in January,” it added. 

For the seven months of the current financial year, 7MFY25, auto sales have surged to 77,686 units, a 55 percent YoY rise from 49,989 units in 7MFY24.

It said all auto companies have seen a rise in YoY and MoM car sales. 

“Two and three-wheelers’ sales increased by 33 percent YoY and 18 percent MoM totaling to 139,161 units (2.5-year high) in January 2025,” the report said. 

It said the tractor industry recorded sales of 2,761 units, marking a 28 percent YoY and 61 percent MoM decrease, while truck and bus sales in Jan 2025 were up 2.57x YoY and 3.22x MoM, reaching 621 units after 3 years (last recorded in January 2022).

 “Auto sales have seen a boost and this is expected to continue as auto financing recovers amidst interest rates fall and new variants enter the market,” the report concluded.