As per data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, car imports in the first nine months of the current financial year have risen by 23.5p due to increasing demand for commercial and domestic services. The total import of motor cars including CBU (Complete Built-Up) and CKD (Complete Knocked-Down) were recorded at $763.74m during July – March 2016-207 in comparison to $618.12m a year ago.
This rise in imports of motor cars was largely credited to the mushrooming and demand of online cab services like Careem and Uber. Customers preferred to purchase second hand foreign cars because of a delay in delivery of cars by local automobile manufacturers. CKD/SKD import of cars stood at $485.125m in the first nine months of the current FY 2016-17 in comparison to $383m in the same period a year ago. CBU imported cars value stood at $278m in comparison to $235.04m a year ago.
The total imports of the transport sector reached $2.29b in comparison to the previous year’s $1.91b, translating into a growth of 83.4pc. Overall imports in CBU mode stood at $503.46m against $391m a year ago, corresponding to a growth of 28.74 pc year on year. A 21pc rise was registered in the CKD/SKD form vehicles reaching $749.16m in the current financial year 2016-17 to $619.38m a year ago.
