The 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics held in Paris cost French taxpayers just under €6 billion ($6.9 billion), according to an "initial estimate" by the national auditing body, the Cour de Comptes, released on Monday, reports Deutsche Welle.
It is the first time actual figures have been announced, with the auditors saying there would be "heightened interest" in them as France prepares to host the Winter Olympics in five years' time.
According to the report from the Cours de Comptes, the organization of the two Games cost €2.77 billion, including €1.4 billion spent on security, with measures including the presence of some 30,000 police officers and gendarmes in Paris streets every day.
Infrastructure projects linked to the Games, which ran from July 26 to August 11 and August 28 to Septermber 8 respectively, cost a further €3.19 billion, the auditors said.
The president of the auditing body, Pierre Moscovici, had said said in 2024 that the sporting events would cost the state "three, maybe four, five billion euros."
A more detailed report will be published in October, as other costs are not yet known, and another report on the legacy of the Games will be issued in 2026.