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WorldPakistan economic crisis: Government orders early closure of shopping malls and markets

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Pakistan economic crisis: Government orders early closure of shopping malls and markets

As the nation is experiencing an economic crisis, the Pakistani government has ordered that markets and shopping centers close at early times each day.

The South Asian country will save, according to defence minister Khawaja Asif, about 62 billion Pakistani rupees ($274.3 million; £228.9 million).

The majority of Pakistan’s electricity is produced using imported fossil fuels.

The world’s energy prices increased last year, further straining the nation’s already precarious finances.

To pay for those energy imports the country needs foreign currency, especially US dollars.

The Pakistan government had $11.7bn of foreign currencies available last month after its reserves fell by about 50% last year.

That is only enough to cover around one month’s worth of all the country’s imports, most of which is energy.

Mr Asif told reporters on Tuesday that shopping malls and markets would have to close by 20:30 local time and government departments had been ordered to reduce their electricity consumption by 30%.

Meanwhile, the production of inefficient electric fans will be banned from the start of July.

“The federal cabinet has immediately approved the Energy Conservation Plan’s enforcement,” the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party said on Twitter.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.View original tweet on Twitter

The nation of 220 million people has been struggling for years to stabilise its economy.

In 2019 Pakistan secured a $6bn bailout from the International Monetary Fund, while in August last year it received a further $1.1bn.

The government is also negotiating with the IMF over the delayed release of another $1.1bn of bailout money.

Pakistan’s finances were also impacted last year by devastating floods that hit the country.

In October the World Bank estimated that the flooding had caused $40bn of damage to the country.

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