Olympics come at huge price
The 2004 Olympic Games is set to be the most expensive in the modern Olympics’ 100-year history, and this huge expense has put Greece in massive debt.
The heightened fears following 9/11 meant that Athens was faced with a bill for security that was five times higher than that of Sydney in 2000. As well as this, much of the building work on facilities was only completed in a last minute, expensive rush – in some cases just hours before the Games began.
The expected seven billion euro burden means the national deficit is set to hit 5.3 per cent in 2004, said Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. He said that the previous government was to blame for concealing the extent of Greece’s economic troubles.
