Turin 2006 final budget will show 25 mln euro deficit

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Feb 8 (Reuters) The final report for last year's Winter Olympics in Turin will show the Games recorded a loss of about 25 million euros, Turin Games chief Valentino Castellani said today.

He said the figure represented about 2 percent of the Games' 1.2 billion euros budget and would be covered by the city of Turin.

''We are very satisfied with the result,'' Castellani, in Lausanne to brief the IOC Executive Board, told reporters. ''The budget is substantially balanced.'' He said the deficit would be covered in kind not cash.

''This is on a material and not on a cash basis,'' Castellani said adding the final figure of the deficit would be announced in March with the submission of Turin's final budget.

Turin had faced a series of preparation obstacles and had also been forced to pay unexpected VAT bills shortly before the Games.

REUTERS SAM PM2052