Pakistan imported $1.2 billion (Rs. 259 billion) worth of luxury cars, high-end electric vehicles, and their parts in the last six months. A report from The News highlights that the country has just over $5 billion in reserves, which are not enough to cover three weeks of imports.
Despite imports of transportation vehicles and other goods being down from the previous year, the economy still paid for expensive luxury cars. Importing millions of dollars worth of CBUs has hurt the local industry and output, the report added.
In light of the struggling economy, the government’s ban on industrial and commercial imports is being called into doubt by high luxury car imports.
Imported passenger cars cost $1.03 billion or Rs. 230.5 billion in the last six months. However, the current figure is down by 63% on a Year-On-Year (YOY) basis as last year when vehicles worth $1.87 billion were imported.
Buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicle CBUs were imported for $75 million (Rs. 16.6 billion) from July–December 2022, while motorbike CBU imports totaled $27.6 million. Likewise, parts and accessory imports totaled $188.6 million (Rs. 42 billion).
In CKD or SKD form, imports of buses, trucks, and other heavy vehicles stood at $722.5 million (Rs. 161 billion), while motor car imports were $498 million (Rs. 111 billion).
