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After curbs, Pak cell phones import bill down by 71pc

  • April 22, 2023

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 However, the govern­ment has recently withdrawn the re­strictions, which might reduce pric­es of mobile phones.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

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