Thailand received a boost for its hopes of staging the 2008 Olympics as Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai threw his weight behind the bid.

Chetta Thanajaro, chairman of the Olympic Committee of Thailand (OCT), said on Wednesday that Chuan had agreed to back the Olympic bid by Bangkok, which successfully hosted the Asian Games last December.

Preliminary figures put the Asian Games marginally in the black, with revenues of about 2.2 billion baht (61.1 million US dollars) against expenses of 2.1 billion baht (58 million US dollars).

Chetta said hosting the games would have only a limited impact on Thai government coffers and the private sector would be tapped for sponsorship deals and other funding.

Beijing, Paris, Seville, Osaka, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, Toronto and Buenos Aires are now in the bid race for the 2008 Games.