Public expenditure on the Olympic Games, amounting to just over 1% of GDP in the last few years, has also had the negative effect of raising the fiscal deficit to about its upper limit of 3%, set by the European Treaty, and has also intensified inflationary expectations.
As a result external competitiveness will again probably be eroded somewhat in 2004, in turn restraining GDP growth. As for financial support from the E.U., it is worth mentioning that net inflows from the E.U. have fallen from over 5% of GDP at the end of 1990s to 2.8% in 2003.