The organising committee of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games is to make deep spending cuts in order to avoid going over its allocated US$3.6bn (£2.4bn) budget for the event.

Speaking to the media on 5 October, communications director Mario Andrada said the “days of lavish spending were over” and that the committee was looking to make cutbacks of up to 30 per cent. Rio 2016’s budget is privately financed but the Brazilian government is liable to meet the cost of any overspend.

"People get upset about luxury and excess, we have to tighten our belts," Andrada said.

As part of the savings – and to help small businesses in Brazil benefit from next year’s Games – Rio 2016 has set a new goal of allocating 10 per cent of the contracts in the Games’ supply chain to small companies and local micro-enterprises.

Rio 2016 estimates that it will need to source more than 30 million items for the Games, at a cost of approximately R$3bn.

Among those contracts already signed with local, low-income enterprises is a deal to provide handcrafted cushions for the athletes’ village.

With R$3bn (US$769m) of Rio 2016’s overall R$7bn budget set to be spent on goods and services, the pledge equates to approximately R$300m (US$77m) worth of business.

“Organising the Olympic and Paralympic Games is a very complex venture and our main objective, since the start, has been to leave a legacy for Brazil,” said Rio 2016 CEO Sidney Levy.

“The goal of helping to enable small companies is very much in line with this. We already have R$150m worth of signed contracts, but we want to double this by next year.”