Closing down

NAURU was once so rich that if a would-be Broadway producer could not find a backer, he would turn to the tiny Pacific island nation. Now, its government has run out of money. David Adeang, the finance minister, says it could soon be unable to support Nauru’s 10,000 people or run its airline. Even Nauru’s most controversial commercial venture could be in trouble, with doubts over the supply of electricity to a camp holding 1,200 boat people seeking asylum in Australia.

Nauru is fighting a legal battle over access to bank accounts in Australia. The accounts have been frozen in a dispute with an American money manager. Firebird owns Nauruan government bonds, listed in Japan, on which Nauru later defaulted; it calculates the debt at A$30m ($26m). Mr Adeang told the New South Wales Supreme Court in Sydney that the government was reduced to relying on scarce cash on the island. Unless its accounts in Australia were unlocked, “the Republic of Nauru will cease to be able to operate”. A judge was to rule on October 3rd.