The monetary cost of putting on an international sporting event like the Olympics can be steep. According to a recent study by Oxford University's Said Business School, the average cost of hosting the Summer Olympics in the last decade was $8.9 billion (not including road, rail, airport and hotel infrastructure, which often cost more than the games themselves).
The study cites the projected cost (as of January 2016) for Rio at $4.6 billion. The games' total cost is closer to $12 billion, according to Reuters.
With a nominal gross domestic product of $1.5 trillion, Brazil ranks as the ninth largest economy in the world, controlling more than 2 percent of the globe's total GDP. Some critics have argued that despite the display of economic might that's typically associated with hosting an international sporting event, the Rio Olympics will do little to help the country's economy.
Despite a robust stock market, Brazil's economy shrank by 3.8 percent in 2015. The IMF projects the country's economy to shrink by 3.3 percent this year before leveling off in 2017.
Though the Brazilian Bovespa index is one of the best-performing global indices this year, it's down more than 23 percent from its all-time high, reached in 2008. Similarly, the iShares MSCI Brazil Capped ETF that tracks the investment results of an index composed of Brazilian equities is up more than 60 percent year-to-date but remains significantly below 2008 highs.