ISLAMABAD – Mobile phone manufacturing industry faced a huge blow as most of the assembly units have been shut down amid a severe shortage of raw materials.
Thousands of workers are at stake of unemployment as phone manufacturers shut down operations as the government enforced stringent policies toward importing material from foreign countries amid severe economic crisis.
Amid the haphazard situation, Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association officials approached the IT ministry, updating that local mobile supply has almost come to stand still. Reports in the media suggest that at least 30 mobile phone assembly units run out of supplies.
Some of the companies, including foreign players, have paid advance salaries to employees, and told them not to come to work till the resumption of operations; the awful situation comes in the month of Ramadan.
Manufacturers lamented the federal government’s policies for importers as no material has been imported from China, and other countries for over three months. Raw material worth $170 million needs to be imported for smooth operations, while the government is not allowing the opening of credit letters amid the dollar shortage.
The South Asian nation has been producing nearly 25 lacs cell phones each month on average since April last year, while companies even started exporting cell phones.
