Pakistan Cracks Down on Power Theft to Rescue Debt-Laden Economy

In Lakhneke, a village in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, tangled wires hang from a power line, a tell-tale sign of electricity theft — a problem that’s costing the South Asian nation nearly a billion dollars a year. These illegal connections are now the target of an extensive crackdown as the government tries to steer the economy out of crisis.

Theft helps keep Pakistan's power sector mired in debt, struggling to upgrade an aging electricity grid network prone to frequent blackouts. This has weighed on an economy already grappling with galloping inflation, weakening currency and the aftermath of last year's devastating floods. Indeed, a promise to reform the industry was key to securing a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund earlier this year.