2024 Olympics: a public bill of 6,6 billion, but no budgetary overrun

The Sages of Rue Cambon have revised upwards their initial estimate of €5,9 billion, communicated in June. The updated public bill breaks down into €3,02 billion spent on organization—including €1,44 billion for security—and €3,63 billion for infrastructure.

In particular, this "first overall assessment" included expenditure by local authorities, as well as expenditure incurred to ensure the Seine is swimmable for open water swimming and triathlon events.

By comparison, in 2023, budget documents had forecast public investment of $2,44 billion for these Olympic Games. And in March 2024, the President of the Court of Auditors, Pierre Moscovici, estimated that they "should cost" between $3 and $5 billion in public money.

On Monday, Mr. Moscovici highlighted during a press briefing "the undeniable success of the Games": while the event generated a "strong mobilization of public finances," the President of the Court of Auditors emphasized "the absence of budgetary slippage" and a "contained" public cost.

The figure of 6,6 billion "is substantial" but the Paris Games were "not too expensive," he summed up.

The court also states that "despite significant methodological uncertainties, a comparison with the London Games held in 2012 suggests that the 2024 edition was less costly for public finances, by a ratio of at least 1 to 2."

In addition to this public bill, we must also take into account the already known expenditure of the Organising Committee (Cojo) for these Games, amounting to 4,4 billion euros (and 75 million in surplus) based almost exclusively on private funding, without forgetting Solideo (Olympic Works Delivery Company), mixing public share and private investments, with a total budget of 4,5 billion.

Limited impact

In detail, the Court of Auditors' report considers that while infrastructure expenditure was "generally correctly managed", that for the organisation experienced "a process of budgeting security expenditure which proved particularly erratic".

While acknowledging that the significance of security spending "reflected an understandable imperative" in the face of "an unprecedented challenge for the internal security forces and the armed forces," the Wise Men believe that it was "their estimate [which] was late and incomplete."

On the public revenue side, the report establishes a "first estimate" of 293 million euros linked solely to the organization, because "at this stage, no budgetary revenue could be identified regarding infrastructure."

Regarding the economic impact of Paris 2024, the Court of Auditors - "within the limits of available data" - judges that the impact has been "modest at this stage" and "relatively limited in the short term".

"The impact of the Games on annual economic growth in 2024 is estimated, when indirect effects are taken into account, at +0,07 points of GDP," or 1,9 billion euros, the report summarizes.

He highlights the phenomenon of "crowding out" that has pushed many tourists to avoid Paris during the Games, and also underlines that the effect of infrastructure spending to prepare for the event "has been significantly mitigated by rising prices."

The Court's methodology was challenged in June by the Cojo 2024, which considered the figure "disproportionate to reality" and for its part estimated the public bill at "around two billion euros".