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Olympics will benefit China: report

— PHOTO: XINHUA

In tune: Artists play the Guzheng, a seven-stringed Chinese zither, at the Great Wall in Beijing on Monday to greet the Olympic Games, to be held in Beijing in August.

BEIJING: Despite being billed as the costliest Games ever, the Beijing Olympics won’t be a financial millstone, said Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services in a report released here on Tuesday.

“Granted, the cost of hosting the Games is huge, and its importance to China in terms of boosting its international standing is obvious; but it appears the Chinese authorities recognise that the Olympics is not an end in itself,” said Standard & Poor’s credit analyst Kim Eng Tan.

Indeed, the authorities’ careful planning suggests the benefits of hosting the Games will continue long after the closing ceremony, he said. Many of the projects would have been executed whether the city had won the Olympics bid or not. Beijing is a fast-growing metropolis.

Until recently, its urban infrastructure also lagged significantly behind cities of comparable importance in the advanced economies. Hence, most of the capital projects involved improvements that were already in the city’s development plan, according to the report.

The Beijing Olympics could be compared to the experience of Barcelona, where substantial infrastructure investment leading up to the 1992 Games helped boost its appeal for visitors and businesses alike. The positive economic impact helped lift the credit ratings on Barcelona.

With the advantage of a rich and long history, the boost to tourism for Beijing could be even greater, said Mr. Tan. “Rather than a financial burden, hosting the Olympics could give a long-term boost to the city government’s credit worthiness.” — Xinhua

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