With concern rising about whether the city would be prepared for the games, the Greek Government went on a spending spree to complete transport and sports venues, pushing out the total cost of the Olympics to Euros 7 billion ($12.08 billion).
Total projected Olympics spending for 2004 alone is now expected to exceed Euros 3 billion - more than double the initial budget of Euros 1.4 billion.
Greece's State Accounting Office has admitted that the country's budget deficit for the first six months of the year was 26 per cent higher than the same period last year, hitting Euros 8.7 billion. And it has already exceeded its original goal of Euros 6.2 billion for all of 2004.
The figure has yet to take in last-minute costs of staging the Games, including bonuses promised to public servants on standby during the event.
Greece's Deputy Finance Minister, Petros Doukas, is now projecting that the Government deficit will exceed four per cent of gross domestic product by the end of the year, compared with 3.5 per cent in 2003.
This exceeds the European Union ceiling of three per cent of gross domestic product. European Union finance ministers recently gave Greece until November 5 to announce tough new measures to bring the country's budget deficit under control.
