Bangladesh has rescheduled the school and office hours from 24 August in a bid to save power as the energy crisis - which forced the government to introduce daily mandatory power cuts in July - worsens.
According to the government notification, all government, semi-government, autonomous, and semi-autonomous offices will remain open for seven hours instead of eight as before. The offices will also open an hour earlier than usual at 9am.
All schools will remain closed on Friday and Saturday until further instructions. Under normal circumstances, schools in Bangladesh are open six days a week - from Saturday to Thursday.
"Reducing office hours by an hour will help save on electricity, which will be used for factory production," Farhad Hossain, State Minister for Public Administration, said on Wednesday.
The minister promised the new work hours would not reduce productivity.
The country of 160 million people has been facing a severe fuel and food crisis that was triggered because of a rise in commodities prices in the international market.
The South Asian nation has to save its foreign exchange reserves, which plummeted to $40Bln last month, to protect itself from default on foreign debt repayments.
Bangladesh has a 39 percent debt-to-GDP ratio, the lowest in South Asia. However, slowing western economies affected its export earnings in recent weeks, prompting it to approach the IMF for $4.5Bln in loans.
The government of Sheikh Hasina has also sought financial help from the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank to support its economy. The IMF has warned the country is vulnerable to the "huge uncertainty surrounding global economic developments".