LAHORE: Following increase in customs duty on mobile phones, imports in the country have witnessed a major decline of 7.6% during the first nine months (July to March) of the current fiscal year 2018-19.
Talking with Customs Today, Vice-President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Kashif Anwar has said that that the government has increased customs duty on mobile phones which has demotivated foreign brands to come to Pakistan. He said this enhancement put a negative impact on mobile phones import. Last month, the government increased withholding tax on mobile phones and customs duty on smartphone sets raised enormously.
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The mobile imports in the country remain as low as $557.187 million when compared with the same period last year where phone imports were reaching $603.046 million.
However, during last month, a 5.97 percent growth in overall imports has also been recorded. This figure reached $127.768 million in March 2019 as compared to $120.565 million during February 2019.
Meanwhile, in March 2019, phone imports in the country reached $79.049 million with an increase of 2.64 percent as compared to $77.013 million imports in March 2018.
