Greece's spending on the Olympic Games may rise to seven billion euros (8.4 billion US dollars), widening a budget deficit that already exceeds European Union limits, Deputy Finance Minister Petros Doukas said on Wednesday.

Doukas told Greece's Flash radio that the original government estimate of the total spending was 4.6 billion euros.

He said the country's budget deficit was "heading towards four percent, maybe a bit over".

Under the EU's Growth and Stability Pact, eurozone member states must maintain deficits of below three percent of gross domestic product.

Greece's budget deficit has already breached the EU cap in 2003.

EU finance ministers have given Athens until November 5 to announce measures aimed at reining in the county's spiralling deficit by 2005.

Greece has been racing against the clock to complete venue construction, drastically pushing up costs as contractors deploy double and triple working shifts.

Doukas said Greece was facing cutbacks in spending in a bid to cut its deficit, although he indicated that cuts were unlikely in areas such as salaries or pensions.

"What we can try and do as much as possible is cut the defence spending, bring the private sector in as much as possible into public works projects so that they are self-financed, do away with unnecessary spending, and of course speed up privatisations," he said.