China Closes Asian Games With Budget Topping Olympics

Guangzhou, capital of China’s largest provincial economy, closes the Asian Games tomorrow after a spending spree that eclipses the budget for the 2012 Olympics in London.

The two-week-long competition triggered spending of 122 billion yuan ($18.3 billion) on projects including stadiums, roads and subway lines. That compares with the 9.3 billion-pound ($14.7 billion) budget set in March 2007 for the London Games. The Guangzhou city’s expenditure was equal to 13 percent of its gross domestic product last year.