Pakistan Orders a Four-Day Work Week. Bangladesh Closes Shops by 6 PM. Asia's Energy Crisis Is Here.

Pakistan mandated a four-day work week for all government offices and ordered universities to hold classes exclusively online. Bangladesh cut office hours to 9 AM–4 PM and required all markets and shops to close by 6 PM. South Korea's president issued a direct appeal to citizens to "save every drop of fuel." Japan's prime minister said he would not rule out a formal energy conservation request to the public.

The measures, announced within 48 hours of each other in early April, represent the most coordinated peacetime energy austerity in Asia since the 1973 oil embargo. None of these countries are at war. All of them import the majority of their energy through or near the Strait of Hormuz.

Brent crude spot prices hit $141 per barrel on April 3 — the highest since the 2008 financial crisis. The spot premium over futures contracts exceeded $30, a spread that signals physical oil scarcity rather than speculative trading. Diesel prices in New Zealand reached $3.42 per litre. Thailand banned fuel exports entirely.

Japan imports 94% of its crude oil from the Middle East and has begun releasing strategic petroleum reserves — 80 million barrels authorised so far. The country's power retailers halted new customer sign-ups. Japanese factories face the possibility of rolling energy restrictions for the first time since the Fukushima disaster in 2011.

The Philippines was warned of summer power grid failures as coal plant outages coincide with peak heat demand. The country's 110 million residents could face electricity shortages during the hottest months of the year.

The Guardian profiled the human impact across seven Asian countries, documenting how the oil shock is reaching farmers in New Zealand, factory workers in India, and commuters across Southeast Asia. The story connected the Hormuz blockade directly to daily life in countries most Western media treats as peripheral to the conflict.

In Seoul, the energy conservation appeal carried echoes of national security messaging. South Korea's economy depends on imported energy for manufacturing, shipping, and heating. Government spokespeople framed conservation as a patriotic duty.

In Islamabad, the four-day work week was presented as temporary. But Pakistan's 230 million citizens are already contending with inflation, electricity shortages, and an IMF programme that demands fiscal discipline. Adding a mandatory day off reduces economic output at a moment when the country can least afford it.

Bangladesh's 170 million people are adjusting to shortened commercial hours. The 6 PM market closure eliminates evening shopping and the informal economy activity that accompanies it — street vendors, transport workers, and small traders whose earnings depend on after-dark commerce.

Slovenia became the first European nation to ration fuel at the pump. Lithuania halved train fares to discourage driving. The European Commission said "all possibilities" for fuel rationing were on the table.

KPMG warned that the energy price shock risks triggering stagflation — the combination of rising prices and economic contraction that defined the 1970s. The OECD raised its global inflation forecast. One KPMG analyst described a "deep recession" as potentially the only exit from the feedback loop of rising energy costs feeding into every sector of every economy.

Iran controls the pace. Its selective Hormuz transit policy — allowing passage for Chinese, Russian, Indian, and Pakistani vessels while blocking NATO-aligned shipping — has transformed a military chokepoint into a geopolitical sorting mechanism. Countries with relationships to Tehran get oil. Countries aligned with Washington do not.

The 40-nation emergency talks on reopening Hormuz, held this week under British leadership, produced no breakthrough.