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The cost of putting on a military parade ordered by President Donald Trump has marched upwards, with the possible price tag now soaring to over $90 million, a US official said Thursday.
When the White House in February announced the commander-in-chief's desire to hold a parade in Washington, the budget director said it would cost between $10 million and $30 million.
But a US official told AFP the planning estimate had now gone as high as $92 million, though no final figure has been reached.
The parade is planned for November, over the Veterans Day weekend, and is expected to include a large show of air power.
US media were quick to highlight how the ballooning costs of Trump's parade stand in contrast to his concern about the expense of conducting joint military exercises with South Korea.
"We will be stopping the war games, which will save us a tremendous amount of money," Trump said in June after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
It later emerged that the drills cost about $14 million, a fraction of the price of a military parade.
The United States normally holds military parades to mark the end of a conflict, such as in 1991 when President George HW Bush held a National Victory Parade in Washington to celebrate the end of the Gulf War.
Trump's request is popular among many Americans but has drawn scorn from critics, who said it would be a waste of money and was akin to events organized by authoritarian regimes.
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