Japan govt. counters claim of massive Olympic spending

January 25, 2020

Tokyo--The Japanese government released a report Friday countering a claim of state expenditures in excess of one trillion yen for this year's Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

Expenditures directly related to the Tokyo Games totaled some 270 billion yen, the report said.

The Board of Audit of Japan last month said that state funds totaling some 1.06 trillion yen were spent on 340 projects related to the 2020 Games between fiscal 2013 and fiscal 2018.

But the government said that of the projects listed by the audit board, those directly related to the games were limited to 65 projects with 266.9 billion yen in expenses.

The other projects were carried out as part of the regular work of the administration, the government said.

The claim by the audit board raised concerns over large fiscal spending for the Tokyo Games.

"The audit board took into consideration a wide range of projects with little relevance to the 2020 Games, and its claim could cause misconceptions," said an official in charge of promoting the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Jiji Press