Pakistan’s Mobile Phone Imports Reach Rs. 19 Billion

In July 2023, Pakistan’s mobile phone imports reached an impressive Rs. 19 billion, as revealed by data from the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). This amount represented a 24 percent increase compared to the Rs. 15.356 billion worth of imports registered in the previous month, June 2023.

The rise in imports was notably higher than figures from the same month in the previous fiscal year (FY24), soaring by nearly 125 percent compared to the Rs. 6.542 billion imports recorded in July 2022.

In terms of US dollars, the imports for July 2023 amounted to $68.135 million, marking a 27 percent increase from June 2023 and a substantial 75 percent rise from July 2022.

Also Read: Imported mobile phones will become less expensive as the government plans to reduce taxes in the FY24 budget.

It’s worth mentioning that the government implemented stringent import restrictions last year to control the outflow of dollars, resulting in reduced imports. These restrictions aided in decreasing Pakistan’s trade deficit by 43.03 percent to $27.547 billion in the fiscal year 2022-23 (FY23) compared to $48.354 billion in the corresponding period of the previous year. Imports also declined by 31 percent during this period, dropping from $80.136 billion in FY22 to $55.291 billion in FY23.

However, with the central bank’s removal of import restrictions towards the end of June, imports have started to rise once again.