Mobile imports decline 7.11pc in 7 months, 25pc in January

ISLAMABAD: The mobile imports into the country during the first seven months of the current fiscal year decreased by 7.11 percent as compared to the corresponding period of last year.

Pakistan imported mobile phones worth $423.818 million during July-January (2018-19) compared to the imports of $456.254 million during July-January (2017-18), showing negative growth of 7.11 percent, according to the latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The imports of overall telecom sector witnessed decrease of 10.58 percent by falling from the trade of $876.124 million last year to $783.450 million during the current fiscal year.

On year-on-year basis, the mobile phone imports into the country witnessed sharp decline of 25.06 percent in January 2019 when compared to the imports of the same month of the last year.

The mobile phone imports during January 2019 were recorded at $59.771 million against the imports of $79.759 million, the PBS data revealed.

On month-on-month basis, the mobile phone imports into the country, however, witnessed an increase of 0.63 percent in January 2019 when compared to the imports of $59.396 million in December 2018.

The overall imports of telecom sector decreased 4.35 percent in January 2019 on year-on-year basis, however, increased by 15.92 percent on month-on-month basis.

The telecom sector imports during January 2019 were recorded at $127.524 million compared to the imports of $133.323 million in January 2018 and $110.006 million in December 2018.

It is pertinent to mention here that the country's overall merchandize trade deficit plunged by 9.66 percent during July-January (2018-19) as the deficit contracted by over $2 billion to $19.264 billion in the period under review against the deficit of $21.324 billion recorded during same period of the previous year.

The exports during the period of current fiscal year also witnessed an increase of 2.24 percent to $13.231 billion from $12.941 billion during last year while the imports declined by 5.17 percent to $32.495 billion from $34.265 billion during first seven months of current fiscal year, PBS reported.

On the other hand, services trade deficit shrank by 29.11 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The services trade deficit during July-December (2018-19) was recorded at $1.945 billion against the deficit of $2.744 billion during July-December (2017-18), showing decline of 29.11 percent, the data revealed.