The mobile phone imports into the country witnessed increase of 6.25 per cent during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
The cell phone imports during July-March (2015-16) were recorded at $573.284 million compared to the imports of $539.581 million during July-March (2015-15), according to data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).
On year-on-year basis, the mobile phone imports into the country increased by 3 per cent during March 2016 compared to the imports of the same month of last year.
The mobile phone imports during March 2016 were recorded at $76.094 million compared to the imports of $73.932 million in March 2015.
On month-on-month basis, the cell phone imports into the country increased by 19.05 per cent in March 2016 when compared to the imports of $63.915 million in February 2016.
Meanwhile, during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (2015-16), the imports of the other apparatus of telecom sector (other than mobile phones) witnessed decrease of 10.74 per cent in imports by declining from $531.195 million last year to $474.166 million this year, the data revealed.
The overall imports of telecom sector during the period under review decreased by 2.18 per cent by going down from $1.070 billion last year to $1.047 billion during the ongoing financial year.
On year-on-year basis, the imports of other telecom apparatus increased from $34.688 million last March to $46.107 million during March 2016, showing positive growth of 32.92 per cent.
The imports of overall telecom sector during the month under review increased by 12.50 per cent.
On month-on-month basis, the imports of other apparatus of telecom sector decreased by 25.73 million during March 2016 compared to the imports of $62.080 million in February 2016.
The overall imports of telecom sector decreased by 2.99 per cent in March 2016 when compared to the imports of $125.995 million during February 2016, the data revealed.
The overall trade data from the country shows that imports into the country declined by 4.22 per cent during the first three quarters.
Imports into the country during July-March (2015-16) were recorded at $32.515 billion, compared to the imports of $33.948 billion during July-March (2014-15).
The exports from the country also witnessed negative growth of 12.92 per cent by falling from $17.921 billion last year to $15.606 billion during the current year.
Based on the figures, the overall trade deficit during the period under review was recorded at $16.909 billion compared to the deficit of $16.027 billion last year, showing increase of 5.50 per cent.
