Rio-16 Committee Requests Help from Different Levels of Government to Tackle US$40 Million in Debt

08/08/2017 - 09h16

The Rio Olympic Committee is negotiating with all three levels of government in order to try and tackle its multi-million dollar debt.

Though the committee was not responsible for paying construction firms, it was responsible for assembling the Olympics. The committee spent R$ 8.7 billion (US$ 2.8 billion), although it still hasn't paid back its creditors.

According to the most recent audit, the company owes a grand total of approximately R$ 132 million (US$ 40 million) to several different companies, most of whom are service providers, although renegotiations with some creditors ought to yield the Rio-16 committee a R$ 10 million break.

In order to convince the different levels of government to come to the table this semester, the committee is preparing a new statement so it can lay out its debt in a detailed fashion.

Obtaining public funds will not be an easy task for the committee. Folha has learned that none of the three levels of government are willing to offer them any more funds.

"There is a gap between the money owed and that which the city is willing to cover. This issue is being widely discussed, although no one has reached an agreement", said Patrícia Amorim, Rio de Janeiro's municipal deputy secretary of sports and leisure.

Toward the end of the Rio Olympics, the city of Rio signed an agreement, conceding R$ 150 million (US$ 48 million) to the committee so it could organize the Paralympics.

At the time, then-mayor Eduardo Paes gave the committee R$ 30 million (US$ 9.6 million). The remaining funds were contingent on spending reports which, according to Mr. Paes, the committee never provided the city with.

The city of Rio wasn't the only level of government that gave aid to the committee: the federal government also chipped in before the Paralympics kicked off.

Translated by THOMAS MATHEWSON

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