Pakistan imported telecom products worth $1,355,891 million during the fiscal year 2016-17, showing a nominal decline of 0.38 percent when compared to the trade of last fiscal year (2015-16).

The telecom imports during 2015-16 were recorded at $1,361,127 million, according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).

The imports of Mobile Phones witnessed negative growth of 5.78 percent during the period under review compared to the corresponding period of last year.

The mobile phone imports into the country were recorded at $709.690 million compared to the imports of $753.224 million, according to PBS data.

However, the imports of other telecom apparatus witnessed increase of 6.3 percent by growing from $607.903 million last year to $646.201 million during 2016-17.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, the overall telecom imports into the country decreased by 1.58 percent in June 2017 compared to June 2016.

The telecom imports in June 2017 were recorded at $102.796 million compared to the imports of $104.441 million.

On month-on-month basis, the telecom imports witnessed decline of 12.6 percent in June 2017 when compared to imports of $117.618 million in May 2017, the data revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that the overall merchandise imports during the first month of the current fiscal year (July 2017) increased by 36.74 percent compared to July 2016.

The imports into the country during July 2017 were recorded at $4.835 billion compared to the imports of $3.536 billion.

On the other hand, the merchandise exports from the country witnessed 10.58 percent increase compared to the corresponding month of last year.

Pakistan exported goods worth $1.631 billion in July 2017 compared to the exports of $1.475 billion in July 2016, showing upward growth of 10.58 percent.

Based on the figures, the traded deficit during July 2017 was recorded at $3.204 billion, which shows growth of 55.46 percent when compared to the deficit of $2.061 billion during July 2016.