Olympic Games To Cost Greeks More Than Seven Billion Euros: Minister

ATHENS, Aug 19 (AFP) - Organising the Olympic Games will cost Greeks more than seven billion euros (8.7 billion dollars), junior finance minister Petros Doukas said Thursday.
Public spending "is going to far exceed initial estimations which put the cost of the games at 4.6 billion euros," Doukas said at an economic center set up here for the use of business leaders.
In July, the government estimated the cost of hosting the Olympics at six billion euros since 2000, and forecast spending this year would reach three billion instead of the 1.4 billion provided for in the national budget.
Doukas nontheless reiterated his government's target of bringing the public deficit below three percent next year from four percent forecast for 2004.
The European Union launched a so-called excessive deficit procedure against Greece in July after it became clear Athens would join a host of eurozone members whose deficits have breached the EU Stability and Growth Pact's limit of three percent of output.