Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro has announced a 40 percent increase in minimum wage, in a bid to help alleviate the country's economic crisis.

In his New Year message, Maduro said 2017 was a year where Venezuelans were under siege through destabilisation, armed violence... and an economic blockade spearheaded by US President Donald Trump. Venezuela, a country of 30 million people, sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, but has been suffering a political and economic meltdown since global crude prices fell dramatically three years ago. Citizens have been suffering from shortages of food and medicine and struggling to afford basic goods and services.