The imposition of an 18% sales tax on mobile phones is proving to be a self-defeating strategy. October's market numbers show this clearly as local assembly plunged 34% year-on-year to 2.33 million units from 3.53 million, and production was down 23% from September. The message should be unmistakable for policymakers -— when consumer affordability is strangled, industrial progress stalls.

Pakistan has spent years nurturing its local mobile manufacturing sector. The Device........

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