Telecom Imports Register Small Growth in First 5 Months of FY2018-19

Mobile phone imports witnessed a nominal growth of 0.4% in the first five months of the current fiscal year (July-November) 2018-19.

Imports ended up costing $304.651 million to the national exchequer as compared to $303.450 million during the same period last year.

Mobile phone imports in November 2018, which stood at $44.238 million, registered a 24.04 percent decline as compared to $58.242 million imports in November 2017.

Last month’s figure was down by 27.7 percent when compared to $61.189 million in October 2018. These figures were revealed in the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

Overall telecom imports saw a decline of 3.14 percent during July-November 2018 when compared to the same period last year.

Total imports were recorded at $545.92 million during this period when compared to $563.634 million in July-November 2017, while registering a 14.21 percent decline in November 2018. This figure stood at $97.390 million in November as compared to $119.989 million during October 2018.

Other telecom apparatus imports witnessed a phenomenal decline of over 7.27 percent in July-November 2018 as it stood at $241.269 million against $260.184 million during the same period last year. When compared to October 2018, other telecom apparatus imports registered a 3.85 percent decline at $53.152 million when compared to $58.80 million in October 2018.