Govt Admits Mistake and Removes Import Ban on Mobile Phone Parts for Local Assembly

The federal government has decided to lift the ban on the import of mobile phone parts in the country. The ban was imposed due to certain foreign exchange constraints and its reversal will help in resuming local 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).

Speaking in this regard, the President of Pakistan Mobile Phone Manufacturers Association (PMPMA), Muzaffar Hussain Paracha, said that the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has given permission for opening LCs for the import of mobile phones parts.

The President of PMPMA lauded the government for removing the obstacles hindering the manufacturing of mobile phones in the country. The removal of the ban will help the mobile phone industry in the country to grow and create employment opportunities.

PMPMA, a representative body consisting of 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.

However, an official of the Ministry of Commerce told ProPakistani that there was no ban on import of completely knocked down (CKD) kits for mobile devices. The official added that since there was no ban in the first place there is no question of its removal.

9.72 million phones were either manufactured or assembled in the country 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.



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