Mobile Imports Continue to Fall due to High Taxation

Mobile Imports Continue to Fall due to High Taxation, according to Daily Times. As the telecom industry is already facing difficulties, so the government’s step to double the sales tax on the import of mobile phone in the budget (2016-17) also did not augur well for the telecom industry.

The government crumpled sales tax i.e. from Rs 500 and Rs 1000 to 1000 and 2000 correspondingly for medium and high class/smart phones on the import of mobile phone sets in budget (2016-17).

Consequently, mobile phone imports in Pakistan dropped by 14.20% during the first five months of the present financial year 2016-17 (July-November) as compared to the same period of preceding year.

According to Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), overall imports of mobile phone stood at $264.15 million whereas it was $307.84 million in the same period last year.

Mobile Imports Continue to Fall due to High Taxation

Professionals from the Industry ascribed this stoppage in mobile imports primarily to the whole economic slowdown observed in first quarter of current fiscal and high taxation on import of mobile sets.

In the same way total telecom imports in Pakistan fell in the said period to $ 494.18 million, recording 13.48% yearly progress as compared to telecom imports worth of $ 571.16 million in same period of FY16.

Also Read: WTO ITA Agreement: Pakistan to Abolish or Reduce IT Import Duties and Taxes

Telecom companies imported $230.12 million worth of telecom equipment and machinery in the first five months of FY17 whereas it stood at $263.41 million in same period of preceding fiscal.

Regardless of speedy penetration of smart phones in Pakistan due to escalating 3G and 4G networks, legal import bill of mobile phones remained on downward course mostly because of complex process and greater taxation on imports as grey imports of mobile phones endure to witness rise.

Also Read: Huge Amount of Taxes Causing Hurdles in the Growth of Internet Industry: Wasim Ahmad

In the month of November 2016, mobile phone imports augmented sparsely by 0.87 percent as Pakistani imported $65.96 million worth of mobile phones in the said month as compared to $65.39 million in same month of 2015.

Similarly, mobile imports increased by 27.55 percent to $65.86 million in November 2016, compared to $51.73 million of telecom imports in October 2016. Whereas import of telecom apparatus and accessories cut down by 4.97 percent in November 2016 to $50.13 million when compared to total import of telecom apparatus value $52.75 million in preceding month of FY17.

For Detailed Report Please Visit: Pakistan Bureau of Statistics