KARACHI: Pakistan has spent over Rs179 billion for import of mobile phones during July – May 2019/2020, which is 90 percent higher than the same period of the last fiscal year.
According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), the country imported mobile phones worth Rs179 billion during first eleven months of the current fiscal year, which was Rs93.78 billion in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Market sources said that reduction in duty and taxes and restriction of registration with the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has increased the import of mobile phones through legal channels.
The import of mobile phones in terms of US Dollars also increased to $1.14 billion during the period under review as compared with $698 million in the corresponding period of the last fiscal year.
Despite imposition of lockdown in the country to prevent coronavirus, the country imported mobile phones worth Rs17.78 billion in May 2020, which is 127 percent higher when compared with Rs7.83 billion in April 2020.
The market sources said that due to lockdown the importance of digital economy had increased. They said that financial transactions were being done through mobile phones, which were the easiest way.
