Spain moves to save 3bln euros a year on energy

MADRID (AFP) - Spain's prime minister Saturday announced a plan to save some three billion euros (four billion dollars) a year on the state's energy bill in a further move to tackle the country's economic crisis.

The plan aims to cut energy use by 20 percent in some 2,000 public buildings, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said in a meeting with businessmen and unions in the southern city of Seville.

"Savings in energy use are savings for all citizens," he said.

It forms part of measures to tackle the economic crisis in Spain which are to be approved by the government this month, the newspaper El Pais said.

The Spanish economy, the fourth largest in the eurozone, has been mired in recession since the global financial crisis hastened the collapse of its once-buoyant property sector at the end of 2008.

The recession sent the unemployment rate soaring to nearly 19 percent in the fourth quarter.

The government on January 29 announced a plan to save 50 billion euros (70 billion dollars) over three years in a bid to slash its massive public deficit from an estimated 11.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product this year to within the 3.0-percent limit set by the EU bu 2013.