, April 3 -- The government has decided to reduce office hours and take a series of austerity measures to cope with the ongoing global energy crisis triggered by instability in the Middle East.

The decisions were taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman on Thursday night. Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani announced the decisions at a briefing after the meeting.

Under the new arrangement, all government and private offices will remain open from 9:00am to 4:00pm from Sunday, instead of the existing schedule.

Banking hours will be from 9:00am to 3:00pm, while banks will close by 4:00pm.

Briefing reporters after the meeting, Cabinet Secretary Nasimul Ghani said the discussion mainly focused on how to tackle fuel a...