The UK government's public sector budget for the Games totals £9.3 billion, which includes all venue construction and infrastructure projects. That figure has already risen substantially from the £2.37 billion quoted when London won the right to stage the Games seven years ago, and Sky News on Thursday reported that an additional £2.4 billion has been added to public sector spending.

Sky claimed that costs are rising due to further spending on areas such as additional anti-doping control officers, paying Underground workers not to strike, governmental operational costs and legal bills over the controversial Olympic Stadium tenancy decision. Indeed, the broadcaster has reported that additional costs further swell this figure with police being given £1.1 billion in counter-terrorism funding and a £4.4 billion budget allocated for security and intelligence services. Sky stated that the extra cost of having 12,000 police officers on duty during the Games and the £6.5 billion being spent on transport upgrades could bring the ultimate cost of the Olympics to more than £24 billion.

However, Coe told the Associated Press: “We will maintain a balanced budget to the completion of the project and the infrastructure will be delivered within the budget that has already been agreed by government. Occasionally some things are slightly more than you expect. On a lot of occasions they're slightly less than you expect, but overall those changes have taken place within that £9.3 billion envelope.”

Meanwhile, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has lashed out at the report, claiming it has included costs such as policing and transport that would have been needed regardless of 2012 being an Olympic year. “It is simply not right to start adding on top of that budgets that would have been in existence regardless of 2012 and claim that as being an Olympic cost,” said a DCMS spokesman, according to Eurosport.

“We have always been transparent about the cost of the Games and have rigorously managed the budget to ensure the programme remains within the £9.3 billion,” the spokesman added. “London 2012 is an investment in our country that is already bringing in economic benefits that would otherwise not have been possible. It is an incredible opportunity for the United Kingdom – not a burden.”