Rio’s Olympic organizers "had to slash almost a third off their spending for next year’s games as Brazil’s economy slips deeper into crisis and the currency slumps in value," according to James Hider of the LONDON TIMES. While the cuts will not directly affect the 15,000 athletes, "they are expected to hit the opening ceremony, originally slated to be a three-and-a-half hour extravaganza" overseen by the director of the film, City of God. Rio 2016 Communications Dir Mario Andrada said, "The days of lavish spending are over. We need to be creative in the way we find these savings." A recent expenditure review found that unless drastic savings were made, the privately funded contest would overrun its 7.4B reais ($1.9B) budget by as much as 30%, "an excess which the scandal-racked government" of President Dilma Rousseff would be hard pressed to make up for. One official said, "What’s important is to show we’re sensitive to the climate of the country and we’re not lavishly spending on anything. There won’t be any white elephants" (LONDON TIMES, 10/6). The BBC's Wyre Davies wrote the organizing committee's budget "is privately financed, with separate budgets for stadiums and infrastructure, but the Brazilian government would have to meet the cost of any overspend." Ticket sales "have been slow with only two million of the five million available sold so far." Andrada: "People get upset about luxury and excess, we have to tighten our belts" (BBC, 10/5). In London, Owen Gibson wrote when Rio won the right to stage the Games in '09, "its economy was riding the wave of growth among developing economies." It "had early success with signing up sponsors and finding private backers for the Olympics." As the economy has turned, "there is no public appetite to meet any overspend." Public support "remains reasonably high, but organisers are also acutely aware of the protests that preceded the 2014 World Cup amid concerns that public money was being spent on white elephant stadiums rather than education and healthcare." Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes, hoping to use a successful Games to boost his own political ambitions, said that "the city would prove it could deliver on time and on budget." He said, "I know the distrust and I understand the distrust. Most people in Brazil, we are not known for our capability on delivering things on time and on budget. This mistrust is something that we understand. We want to prove that this country is capable of delivering things on time" (GUARDIAN, 10/6).
