Chavez hands over some duties to VP Maduro

Ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who is still in Cuba recovering from his latest cancer surgery, has delegated several economic duties to his vice president Nicolas Maduro.

According to a decree signed by Chavez and published on Wednesday in the country's government gazette, Maduro is now responsible for making certain decisions related to the national budget and expropriations.

Chavez signed the executive order earlier this month, one day before heading to Cuba, one of Venezuela's key allies, where he underwent surgery on December 11 in his ongoing battle with cancer.

Chavez, 58, has been in power since 1999.

He won another six-year term in October's presidential election, and is scheduled to be sworn in on January 10, but his health has raised concerns over the future of his leftist movement.

Officials have never disclosed the type or severity of Chavez's cancer, which was first diagnosed in June 2011, and he only designated a successor -- Maduro -- earlier this month.

Chavez, the face of the Latin American left for more than a decade and a firebrand critic of US "imperialism", had asserted before embarking on his arduous re-election campaign earlier this year that he was cancer-free.

But he was later forced to admit he had suffered a relapse.

On Monday, the government said there had been a "slight improvement" in Chavez's condition as he recovers from a post-operative respiratory infection.