Govt decides to revoke ban on import of mobile phones: sources

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is all set to revoke the ban on the import of cell phones, said well-placed sources, according to a Daily Jang report published Monday.

The sources privy to the matter said that a notification in this regard is expected to be issued during the current week.

On May 19, the Ministry of Commerce banned the import of 38 items, including mobile phones, to control a bulging import bill and support the appreciation of the local currency. The commerce ministry issued SRO 598 to amend the Import Policy Order. It specified 800 Pakistan Customs Tariff (PCT) headings of banned items in 33 categories.

However, the Ministry for Industries and Production, the Cabinet Secretariat and Customs suggested to revoke the ban on the import of cell phones as it generates taxes worth millions of rupees.

As per the statistics, the country imported 940,000 mobile phone sets during five months of the current year. During the previous year, over 10.2 million mobile phone sets were imported to the country.