The federal government has decided to lift the import ban on mobile phone parts in Pakistan. The import ban was imposed due to certain foreign exchange constraints and its reversal will help in resuming the local assembly and manufacturing of mobile phones. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had placed the completely knocked down (CKD) kits of mobile phones in the list of items for which approval from the central bank is needed before the banks can open Letters of Credit (LCs).
The Removal of Import Ban on Mobile Parts Will Help Mobile Industry to Grow More
The President of PMPMA praised the government for lifting the import ban that was hindering the manufacturing of mobile phones in the country. The removal of the import ban on mobile parts will help the mobile phone industry in the country to grow and create employment opportunities. PMPMA, a representative body comprising 26 mobile phone manufacturers, had held talks with the government a couple of weeks ago, requesting to remove the ban and allow the opening of LCs.
Nearly 9.72 Million Phones Were Manufactured in Pakistan
Furthermore, 9.72 million phones were either manufactured or local assembled in Pakistan between January and April 2022. In the same period, just 0.86 million mobile phones were imported. In just April 2022, 2.56 million mobile phones were locally manufactured/assembled against 0.25 million imports in the same period. The locally manufactured/assembled 9.72 million mobile phone handsets included 5.69 million 2G and 4.03 million smartphones.
The manufactured/assembled mobile handsets by local manufacturing plants during the calendar year 2021 stood at 24.66 million compared to 13.05 million in 2020, showing an 88% increase. On the other hand, the commercial imports of mobile phones stood at 10.26 million in 2021 compared to 24.51 million in 2020.
Read more: Government to Hike the Taxes on the Import of Mobile Phones
