Asia | Broken and broke

Pakistan is at risk of default

A balance of payments crisis is tipping a fragile economy over the edge

Vendors sell fruit under lights lit by batteries in Lahore, Pakistan, on Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. Millions of people across Pakistans major cities were plunged into a blackout prompted by a power grid failure, dealing another blow to the nation already reeling from surging energy costs. Photographer: Betsy Joles/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Image: Getty Images
|Dadu, Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore

Pakistanis are accustomed to unreliable utilities. Even in affluent neighbourhoods of Karachi and Lahore, residents install diesel generators for power cuts and spare water tanks for when the taps run dry. Yet the events of January 23rd were still shocking. A surge in voltage at a power station in southern Sindh province led to almost the entire country of 230m people losing power for most of the day. Factories, hospitals and mobile-phone networks shut down in many areas. In Lahore, the evening’s trading and promenading—a time when Pakistan’s second-largest city feels most exhilaratingly alive—was conducted in darkness and a pale glow of mobile phones. Only at midnight did some streetlights come on.

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This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Broken and broke”

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