ISLAMABAD: Despite the rise in domestic manufacturing, the import of mobile phones into the country has witnessed an increase of 7.63 percent during the first eight months of the current fiscal year 2021-22 as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
According to the data shared by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country imported mobile phones worth $1,411.619 million during July-February 2021-22 as compared to the imports of $1311.493 million during July-February 2020-21, showing a growth of 7.63 percent.
Meanwhile, on a year-to-year basis, the import of mobile phones decreased by 19.69 percent during the month of February 2022 when compared to the same month of last year. The import of mobiles into the country during February 2022 was recorded at $141.207 million against the exports of $175.821 million in February 2021.
On a month-on-month basis, the imports of mobile phones also witnessed a decline of 21.45 percent during February 2022, as compared to the imports of $179.765 million during January 2022, according to the data.
According to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, domestic manufacturing plants produced/assembled 1.53 million smartphone devices in January 2022, compared to 0.14 million legally imported in January 2022.
The net telecom shipments into the country climbed by 15.33 percent during this review period (July-February) 2021-22. It rises from $1.619 billion from July to February 2020-21 to $1.868 billion from July to February 2021-22.
The country’s overall import bill in February jumped 28.09pc to $5.89bn against $4.6bn in the corresponding month last year.
