ISLAMABAD – The import bill of mobile phones has significantly dropped by 71 percent during the last nine months mainly due to the restrictions imposed by the federal government and State Bank of Pakistan to curtail the overall imports of the country.
The country has imported mobile phones worth of $462.701 million during the first nine months (July-March) of the current fiscal year 2022-23 as against $1.6 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year showing a decline of 71 percent, the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics showed.
Few months back, the federal government and SBP had imposed several resections on the luxury goods including mobile phones to control the soaring imports of the country. The government’s plan has worked as the import bill of mobile phones has significantly reduced in the nine months of the current financial year. The imposition of restrictions has increased the prices of the phones in the country. However, the government has recently withdrawn the restrictions, which might reduce prices of mobile phones. According to the PBS data, the country’s mobile phone imports decreased by 55.09 percent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in March 2023 and stood at $14.846 million compared to imports of $33.054 million in February 2023. On annual basis, the import of mobile phones has also declined. Mobile phone imports have shown 91.93 percent negative growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in March 2023 when compared to $183.894 million in March 2022. On the other hand, according to the PBS data, the overall telecom imports into the country have also registered massive decline in the period under review. The import recorded at $744.910 million during July-March period of the current fiscal year as against $2.137 billion during the same period of the last fiscal year. On annual basis, the overall telecom imports registered a negative growth of 86.51 percent and stood at $36.112 million in March 2023 compared to $267.705 million in March 2022. On MoM basis, the overall telecom imports registered 44.22 percent negative growth in March 2023 compared to $64.741 million during February 2023. The data further showed that other apparatus imports stood at $282.210 million in July-March fiscal year 2023 and registered 47.81 percent negative growth compared to $540.778 million during the same period of the last fiscal year. On a year-on-year basis, other apparatus imports stood at $21.266 million in March 2023 and registered 74.63 percent negative growth compared to $83.811 million in March 2022 and registered 32.89 percent growth on MoM basis compared to $31.687 million in February 2023.
Article source: https://www.nation.com.pk/22-Apr-2023/after-curbs-pak-cell-phones-import-bill-down-by-71pc