First 11 months (July-May) of FY 2023-24: Mobile phones’ import posts 213.97pc growth YoY

ISLAMABAD: The country imported mobile phones worth $1.621 billion during the first 11 months (July-May) of the current fiscal year 2023-24, registering growth of 213.97 per cent when compared to $516.488 million during the same period of the last fiscal year.

In rupee term, the country imported mobile phones of Rs458.472 billion during the first 11 months of the current fiscal year 2023-24 and registered 277.37 per cent growth when compared to Rs121.491 billion during the same period of last year.

Pakistan’s mobile phone imports decreased by 1.58 per cent on a month-on-month (MoM) basis in May 2024 and stood at $158.842 million compared to imports of $161.384 million in April 2024, according to the data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Mobile phone imports registered 267.68 per cent growth on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in May 2024 when compared to $43.201 million in May 2023.

The overall telecom imports into the country stood at $2.047 billion during July-May 2023-24 and registered 138.04 per cent growth compared to $860.281 million during the same period of the last fiscal year.

On a YoY basis, the overall telecom imports registered a growth of 163.19 per cent and stood at $212.980 million in May 2024 compared to $80.922 million in May 2023. On a MoM basis, the overall telecom imports registered 0.66 per cent growth in May 2024 compared to $211.589 million during April 2024.

The local manufacturing/assembling plants manufactured/assembled 10.85 million mobile handsets during the first four months (January-April) of the calendar year 2024 compared to 0.65 million imported commercially.

Official data revealed that the locally manufactured/assembled 10.85 million mobile phone handsets included 4.38 million 2G and 6.47 million smartphones.

Besides, as per the PTA’s data, 61 per cent of mobile devices are smartphones, and 39 per cent are 2G on the Pakistan network.

Local manufacturing/assembling of mobile handsets declined by around four percent during the calendar year 2023, attributable to issues in imports on account of restricting the opening of letters of credit (LCs) for mobile phones accessories. However, despite restrictions, commercial imports of mobile handsets increased during this period, official data revealed.

Local manufacturing plants manufactured/assembled 21.28 million mobile handsets during calendar year 2023 compared to 21.94 million during the same period of 2022 and 24.66 million in 2021. However, commercial imports increased from 1.53 million in 2022 to 1.58 million in 2023.

Further, the locally manufactured/assembled 21.28 million mobile phones handsets included 13 million 2G and 8.28 million smartphones.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024