KARACHI: Pakistanis have spent $1.4 billion on import of luxury motor cars and latest smart phones during first eight months of current fiscal year despite realizing the serious balance of payment crisis of the country.
The trade data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) revealed that the import of luxury cars and expensive mobile phones increased by 22 percent to around $1.4 billion during July – February 2017/2018 as compared with $1.12 billion in same period of the last fiscal year.
According to latest data released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), the current account deficit had widened to $10.82 billion during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with the deficit of $7.21 billion in the last fiscal year.
The import of smart phones grew by 15 percent to $526 million during first eight months of the current fiscal year as compared with $459 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Similarly, the import of motor cars grew by 27 percent to $847 million during the period under review as compared with $666 million.
Experts said that rise in imports of these two items is showing that the government has failed to curtail imports by implementing regulatory duty. Both the items are subject to regulatory duyt.
The imports posted growth of 17.1 percent to $39 billion during July – February 2017/2018 as compared with $33.4 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
