EIB loan for Olympic works a sign of spending getting out of hand
In contemplating a 1- to 1.5-billion-euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union’s credit institution, the government appears to be returning to the period of frequent recourse to outside borrowing that had ended in the early 1990s. The loan will be used to finance a number of projects that are necessary for the 2004 Athens Olympics, including both venue and infrastructure building. Budget overruns in any public project are now habitual and the Olympic projects are no exception. Construction of venues and media villages will now cost almost a billion euros more than the originally budgeted 4.4 billion. To this, one must add about 30 projects, costing another billion, not directly related to the Games, but which must be completed ahead of August 2004. Prime Minister Costas Simitis will attempt today to reassert control over fiscal policy, which seems to be losing any vestiges of discipline. Increased spending and lower-than-expected revenue have turned the 2002 budget into a nightmare.
