Russia trims World Cup budget again, cuts $2.4 million

Russia trims World Cup budget again, cuts $2.4 million

Published Aug. 5, 2015 2:42 p.m. ET

MOSCOW (AP) Russia has again cut its budget for the 2018 World Cup, in part by abandoning plans to build a new TV tower.

A Russian government order published Wednesday removes 151.4 million rubles ($2.38 million) from the budget in the third round of cost-saving this year. That leaves the budget at 631.3 billion rubles ($9.92 billion).

The latest savings seem to come mostly from abandoning plans for a 240-meter tall TV tower in the host city of Samara.

The Russian government is curbing most areas of public spending as the economy contracts due to the low oil price.

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In June, Russia cut 29.2 billion rubles ($459 million) from the World Cup budget, cancelling plans for several hotels.

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