State employees to work two days a week to reduce electricity usage

Venezuela's government ordered public workers on Tuesday to work a two-day week as an energy-saving measure in the crisis-hit South American country.

President Nicolas Maduro had already given most of Venezuela's 2.8 million state workers Fridays off during April and May to cut down on power consumption.

"From tomorrow, for at least two weeks, we are going to have Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays as non-working days for the public sector," Maduro said on his weekly television program.