Puerto Rico is facing a second day of a general strike Wednesday in which hundreds of thousands of public sector workers are protesting against plans to privatise the state-owned telephone company.

Organisers said that about three-hundred-thousand government workers backed the stoppage on Tuesday.

Banks and shops were closed across Puerto Rico and public transport was at a standstill.

Puerto Rico's governor, Pedro Rossello, said on Tuesday that the sale of the phone company would proceed as planned and rejected demands for a referendum on the issue.