Rio's Image Is "Much Worse Than Before," Says US Economist
The costs behind the Rio Olympic Committee and 2014 World Cup are some of the factors to blame for Rio state's grave financial crisis. Last Friday (17), the state declared a "public calamity" to avoid a full collapse of the state's finances.
The analysis was made by US economist Andrew Zimbalist, author of the book "Circus Maximus", for Folha.
In the book, launched in 2015, Zimbalist focuses on the tabs behind the last two major sporting events -including the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games- and concludes that hosting large sporting events provides very few benefits to national economies.
He observes that the Rio Olympic Games, in addition to compromising the economy of the state, damaged the country's image abroad.
"I think Rio had a very interesting and attractive image, and that image has been tainted and damaged. The notion that the Olympics would promote tourism and business in Rio and Brazil is ill-conceived", he says.
According to him, Rio's image is "much worse than before".
"Before the World Cup, people saw Rio as this beautiful and exotic tourist destination. Still an underdeveloped area, but very appealing and friendly. What the world learned about Rio during the last three or four years is that the water is polluted, many areas have standing water problems that facilitate mosquito breeding and the spread of the Zika virus, violence is widespread and extensive, the economy is experiencing an economic free fall, corruption is deeply rooted in the political system, there is political instability in the country, traffic jams are constant, and part of the infrastructure was created in a hurry and is already falling apart", he says.
Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ