2008 Central Asia energy crisis

[4] At the beginning of January 2008, officials announced an electricity price hike of 20 percent to allow the "government [to] repay its debt to the World Bank.

"[5] Starting on January 13, 2008, many villages received only one to three hours of electricity per day, and the capital Dushanbe cut power to residential areas overnight.

[2] On January 26, 2008, Dushanbe cut power to places of entertainment (including restaurants, shops, pharmacies, markets, and public bathhouses), causing many to close until spring.

[2] Subsequently, throughout the month of February, there emerged numerous Western media reports of children dying in maternity wards of hospitals during blackouts.

"[11] The Christian Science Monitor, neweurasia, and other media observers predicted that a nascent hunger crisis will erupt into a full famine as a consequence of the energy shortages, which subsequently happened.

[10] Beginning in late December 2007, the unusually harsh weather had frozen the gas supply to numerous homes and businesses across Uzbekistan.

This had an expected negative effect on the economy, because the leaves are essential to the local silk industry, and the fruit grown on these trees are the main source of income for many villagers.