Ahead of Olympics, Rio declares a state of financial emergency
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Rio state authorities declared a "state of public calamity" over a major The decree authorises the state to "adopt all necessary emergency measures to ration essential public services in order for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games to take place."
"Any institutional instability would hurt the country's image," said the decree, signed by acting governor Francisco Dornelles.
The August 5-21 Olympics and September 7-18 Paralympics in
The events pose "serious difficulties in delivering essential public services and could even cause a collapse in public safety, health, education, transportation and environmental management," the decree said.
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Retirees have protested because of unpaid pensions.
The decision to cut services and security ahead of the Olympic Games "is not only a shock but is also incredibly worrying, especially given the bad history of police killings and murders," Amnesty's Brazil director, Atila Roque, said in a statement.
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Rio's state budget shows a $5.6 billion shortfall for 2016. Royalties from oil the state's main revenue-earner are projected to collapse from $3.5 billion in 2014 to in 2014 to just $1 billion this year. Dornelles has called the situation in his state "tragic."
He urged the national government to step up, and pressed authorities to look at what public assets could be sold off to raise cash.
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