Pakistan is an import dependant country for mobile phones and other technologies and the import bill has been a big issue as it increase the circular debt of the country. Pakistan does not produce any of its own smartphones and only small number of smartphone companies assemble their phones. As a result, tons of phones are imported into Pakistan each year to meet the demand.
In July of last year, Pakistani suppliers and retailers of mobile phones imported phones worth $119.2 million, while in July of this year, just $38.8 million worth of phones were imported. On an annual basis, the imports decreased by 67% compared to 2021.
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All imports of advanced technologies and not only mobile phones—have decreased this year compared to same time in the last year. The drastic decrease in imports of mobile phones and other technologies was not anticipated, as Pakistan is nowhere near generating enough technology to have an impact on imports.
In July 2022, Pakistan imported $67.9 million worth of telecommunications, 21% less than the $86.9 million imported in June 2022. Even though this is a significant decline, Pakistan imported telecom goods and services worth $158 million last year, a 157% decline from the previous year ( July 2021).
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The cause of these sharp drops in imports has less to do with demand than it does with national import restrictions implemented by the government. To boost the national reserves and retain the money in the country, the government has enforced increased import tariffs and varied import bans. Due to a lack of products and services, this has led to higher tech prices in Pakistan.
The government intends to shift the trend away from importing everything and toward exporting items in order to assist the economy by encouraging local investors to produce our own high-tech products that can also be sold.