Gibran Naiyyar PeshimamIslamabad — Pakistan’s government ordered all malls and markets to close by 8.30pm among other measures in a new energy conservation plan, defence minister Khawaja Asif said on Tuesday, as the country grapples with an economic crisis.
Additional immediate measures included shutting wedding halls by 10pm daily. Asif said some market representatives had pushed for longer hours, but the government decided that earlier closure was needed. Other critical multilateral and bilateral financing avenues are also linked to the IMF programme, which means the South Asian nation of 220-million people is hard-pressed to meet external financing needs of more than $30bn until June 2023, including debt repayments and energy imports.
Pakistan’s peak summer electricity usage was 29,000MW compared to 12,000MW in the winter, mainly due to the use of fans in hotter months, he said.