Mobile phones imports of Pakistan rise by over 14 pct.

By APD writer Muhammad Sohail

ISLAMABAD, March 29 (APD) -- Import of mobile phones in Pakistan during first eight months of fiscal year from July 2017 to February 2018 have increased by 14.51 percent as compared to same period of previous year, said the official statistics.

According to latest data released by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) on Wednesday, the import increased to 526 million U.S. dollars during July-February (2017-18) from 459.38 million U.S. dollars in the same period of the year 2016-17.

While on year-on-year basis, the mobile phone import also witnessed increasing trend as it rose to 69.78 million U.S. dollars in February 2018 from 60.03 million U.S. dollars in February 2017, thus showing an increase of 16.24 percent.

On month-on-month basis, the import decreased by 12.52 per cent in February 2018 as compared to that of January 2018 in which the import of mobile phones was posted 79.76 million U.S. dollars.

In addition to this, the import of overall telecom group also increased by 13.7 percent during July 2017 to February 2018 compared to the same period of previous year.

The telecom import during the eight months of current fiscal year was recorded at 1.003 billion U.S. dollars while it was recorded 882.17 million U.S. dollars during July-February 2016-17.

On year-on-year basis, the telecom import in February 2018 increased by 25.6 percent when compared to the import during February 2017. While on month-on-month basis, the import decreased by 4.48 percent as compared to that of January 2018.

The telecom import in February 2018 was recorded at 127.38 million U.S. dollars against the import of 101.415 million U.S. dollars in February 2017.

(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)