$220-Million Loan Guarantee Given to Barcelona Games

The Spanish government has moved to plug a hole in the finances of Barcelona’s 1992 Olympic Games by making a loan guarantee of $220 million, Education Minister Javier Solana said Wednesday.

A top-level Olympic commission, headed by Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez, approved the move to cover a shortfall of $305 million.

The government said it will raise the remaining $85 million through lotteries and the sale of stamps and coins. Olympic officials could not immediately confirm details of the financing.

With the one-year countdown to the Olympics starting today, the Barcelona Olympic Organizing Committee found itself short of cash after the government delayed providing the $305 million it had pledged.

Solana said the delay was caused by the deteriorating economy but promised that government spending cuts for 1991, announced Tuesday, would not hurt the Games or Seville’s Expo World Fair.