First European Games to Cost Azerbaijan 3.5 Billion Manat

On Sunday, there was a ceremony of lighting the torch of the first European Games. Thus, Azerbaijan has demonstrated its readiness for the Games. They will be attended by 6,000 athletes from 50 countries of the world and the competition will be held on 20 sports in Baku and Mingechevir – at 21 stadiums and facilities.

"At what cost will Azerbaijan conduct these Games?" asked the Chairman of the Movement for Democracy and Prosperity Gubad Ibadoglu.

According to his calculations based on the approved budget of Azerbaijan for 2013, 2014 and 2015, the first European Games in Azerbaijan will cost 3 billion 506 million 850 thousand manat.

According to recent data, 90% of the allocated funds have already been spent. The remaining 300 million manat will be spent within two months. 72.6%, or $ 2 billion 546 million 700 thousand manat is the direct costs of the Games (2013 - 345,900,000 manat, 2014 - 864.8 million manat, 2015 - 1 billion 336 million manat) invested in the construction of the sports infrastructure, while 27.4% or 960 million 150 thousand manat was the operating expenses.

Of course, part of the money spent will remain in Azerbaijan, but we must note that the built sports facilities will be a source of additional costs for the budget in future years. Upon completion of the European Games, these facilities will be idle for months and the cost of their operation will be taken annually from the state budget, which makes at least tens of millions.

There is another aspect. Currently, up to 2,000 Azerbaijanis are working on this project, receiving high salaries, which are part of operating expenses. If we consider that two months later the contracts of these employees will be over, they will just lose their temporary jobs. This in turn means that in two months the army of the unemployed specialized and qualified people will increase.

On the revenue side, it should be noted that 600 thousand tickets will be sold for the Games. Their cost, except for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games, will be a maximum of 5 million or almost the same dollar equivalent. The most expensive tickets for the opening ceremony of the Games will be 200 manat and for the closing - 100 manat. In case of total sale of the tickets the revenue can be up to 30 million manat that will cover only 0.85% of the total expenditure.

"In the presented calculations I would not want to evaluate this event only in terms of economic benefits, said Ibadoglu. - But we should not forget that at present, in the start up of spending the foreign currency generated through oil revenues, economic rationalism is more important for Azerbaijan compared to previous years."

* The exchange rate of manat on April 27 is AZN 1 = $ 1.0499.    -0-