KARACHI: Pakistan has registered a decline of almost 67% in the imports of mobile phones during first half (July – December) of fiscal year 2022-2023 due to apparent reasons of dollar crunch resulting in import restrictions.
Also read: ‘Pakistan has manufactured 19.7m cellphones in 11 months of 2022’: PTA
According to data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), Pakistan has imported mobile phones worth $363 million during first half (July – December) of fiscal year 2022-2023 as compared with $1.09 billion in the corresponding half of the previous fiscal year.
The imports of the mobile phone recorded 67 per cent decline during the period under review amid import restrictions introduced by the present government due to dollar scarcity.
The government in May 2022 imposed ban on import of luxurious and non-essential items, which also included the mobile phones in Completely Built Unit (CBU).
Imposition of ban was aimed at preventing outflow of dollars because the country was facing a continuous depletion of foreign exchange reserves and local currency was under severe pressure.
Also read: Cell phones’ import falls 64.94pc in first 4 months of FY23
However, this ban was lifted on August 20, 2020 despite the fact that foreign exchange reserves of the country fell drastically and the exchange rate also witnessed massive decline in rupee value against the dollar.
Apart from the import ban, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also put restrictions on opening of LCs above certain threshold, which is still applicable.
The import of mobile phone in terms of Pakistani Rupee (PKR) recorded a decline of 56 per cent to Rs81 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year as compared with Rs185 billion in the same half of the last fiscal year.
