Last month, the countrywide power cut made people even more worried. It brought Pakistan to a standstill, plunging people into darkness, shutting down transit networks and bringing hospitals to backup generators. The authorities have not yet identified the cause of the blackout.
Pressure is mounting on the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to unlock billions of dollars of emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund, which this week sent a delegation to the talks. Pakistan’s currency, the rupee, recently fell to new lows against the US dollar after authorities eased currency controls to meet one of the IMF’s lending conditions, CNN reported. The government was opposed to changes requested by the IMF, such as reducing fuel subsidies, because they would lead to new price increases in the short term.