Two senior Brazilian government officials said that the country is "considering an emergency loan to the cash-strapped state of Rio de Janeiro as it prepares to host the Olympic Games in less than two months," according to Soto & Ayres of REUTERS. The loan would be "guaranteed by the state's participation in local companies and could be extended to the states of Minas Gerais and Rio Grande do Sul, which are struggling to pay employees and pensioners as a crippling recession reduces tax revenues." Although the city of Rio de Janeiro has "enough money to complete the infrastructure for the Olympics, a financial crisis in the state threatens to disrupt public services during one of the world's biggest sporting events." The Rio Olympics also "has been marred by political turmoil that led to the suspension of the president and an outbreak of the mosquito-borne Zika virus that has been linked to brain malformation in babies in Brazil." A member of the government's economic team said, "These states need cash injection. There is no other way. These loans will be backed by states' assets such as banks, utilities, gas and sanitation companies." A source said that the three states "would transfer their stakes in some state companies to the federal government, which could in turn sell them to private investors as it did during the last states' debt restructuring in the late 1990s." Brazil's 27 states and federal district "resumed talks on Thursday with the government of interim President Michel Temer to seek relief on their debts that amount to a staggering 11.2 percent of gross domestic product" (REUTERS, 6/9).
NEW TOKYO PARTNER: INSIDE THE GAMES' Liam Morgan reported Cisco Systems GK has "signed on as the 22nd Official Partner of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo." The company, a subsidiary of multinational technology giants Cisco Systems Inc., has been attributed to the “Network Category” in the second tier of domestic sponsors for the Games in four years’ time. The company becomes the 37th sponsor of Tokyo 2020 "after the Organising Committee agreed deals with Tokyo Metro Co., Ltd and East Japan Railway Company." Tokyo Metro and JR East were placed into the "Passenger Rail Transportation Services" bracket. The news "comes amid continued accusations of corruption within Tokyo 2020’s successful bid" after payments totaling $2M made by the Organising Committee to Black Tidings, a Singapore-based firm with links to the son of former IOC member Lamine Diack, were uncovered (INSIDE THE GAMES, 6/9).
