Locally assembled Chinese mobiles and vehicles have gained a foothold in Pakistan’s car and mobile phone markets. The ban on importing vehicles and phones will further increase the manufacture of Chinese cars and cellphones locally and will help the Government of Shehbaz Sharif to save the country’s foreign reserves, says a report published by Gwadar  Pro on Saturday. The Government of Pakistan has decided to ban the imports of luxury items to save the country’s precious “foreign exchange”.

Expensive cars and smartphones are amongst the items imported from abroad, shrinking foreign exchange. However, according to the report, Chinese companies have recently started manufacturing high-end mobile phones and luxury cars in Pakistan that will somehow meet the demands of the people. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted on Thursday that “My decision to ban import of luxury items will save the country precious foreign exchange. We will practice austerity & financially stronger people must lead in this effort so that the less privileged among us do not have to bear this burden inflicted on them by the PTI Govt”.

Chinese top mobile companies have started manufacturing mobile phones in Pakistan. Pakistan has issued Mobile Device Manufacturing Authorization to more than 30 mobile manufacturing companies including China’s Oppo, Xiaomi, Huawei, Itel, VGO TEL, Infinix, Vivo and Tecno, etc. Other than Chinese companies, Samsung and Nokia have also started manufacturing mobile phones.

However, Chinese companies are leading this race. The mobile manufacturing companies have attracted around $76 million investments. According to a media’s report, every year Pakistan imports luxury cars worth $1.6 billion and mobile phones worth about $1.5 billion. If the number of imports is controlled, the country will save foreign exchange. “If luxury vehicles are banned it will save a lot of foreign reserve; such cars are bought by rich people, corporate sectors or the middle class, not the needs of poor people, so it can save billions of dollars,” he said.

When it comes to banning car import, Pakistani consumers can rely on China made  vehicles in the country. Many Chinese automobile companies are operating in Pakistan. These companies include Changan, MG, BAIC, FAW and SFSK. These companies are manufacturing from premium small cars to luxurious vehicles, the report added.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-INP