Staff Reporter
Islamabad
The import of mobile phones into the country witnessed increase of 69.25 percent during the first six months of current financial year (2019-20) as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
Pakistan imported mobile phones worth US $616.148 million during July-December (2019-20) as compared to the imports of US $364.046 million during July-December (2018-19), showing growth of 69.25 percent, according to the latest data issued by Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
On year-on year basis, the import of mobile phones witnessed growth of 98.13 percent in December 2019, as compared to the imports of the same month of last year.
The mobile imports during December 2019 were recorded at US $117.682 million against the imports of US $59.395 million in December 2018.
On month-on-month basis, the imports of mobile phones also grew by 6.28 percent during December 2019, as compared to the imports of US $110.725 million during November 2019, according to the data. It is pertinent to mention here that the country’s merchandise trade deficit plunged by 33.67 percent during the first six months of the current fiscal year (2019-20) as compared to the deficit of the same month of last year.
The trade deficit during July-December (2019-20) was recorded at $ 11.628 billion against the deficit of $16.771 billion during July-December (2018-19), the data revealed.
The exports during the period increased from $ 11.181 billion during last year to $11.535 billion during the current fiscal year, showing growth of 3.17 percent.
On the other hand, the imports into the country witnessed decline of 17.13 percent by falling from $ 27.952 billion last year to $23.163 billion during the current fiscal year, the data revealed.
