VANCOUVER - Up until the end of last year, the 2010 Winter Games were meeting expectations for economic and social impacts for the province and the country, says a new report.

But analysts for PriceWaterhouseCoopers say that was before the worldwide financial meltdown, and only time will tell whether the Games ultimately are a boon or a bust.

"Up to 2008, the economy was still growing quite well,'' said Bredon Ogmundson, one of the analysts who worked on the report. "We'd expect to see perhaps some impact of the recession in subsequent reports.''

The consulting group will continue to monitor the impact of the Olympic and Paralympic Games until well after the athletes go home. The province has commissioned the company to analyze the impacts through to 2013.

Mary McNeil, the provincial minister responsible for the Olympics, said the province still expects $4 billion in direct benefits and further indirect benefits over and above that.

"The economy has been terrible all around the world,'' McNeil said in an interview. "That's what makes these Games even more important for this province. It's a huge economic generator. We're the envy of the world right now.''

The minister said most of the economic benefit will come in the immediate lead-up to the Games, the event itself and afterward.

"I think it just shows that we're on track. (The report) only does actual results, but only from 2003 to '08. Of course in big events like this, it's really '09-10 that's going to make the big difference.''

The report released Thursday looked at the economic, cultural and social impacts of the Games from the time Vancouver was awarded the Olympics until December 2008.

"In our review we found one or two minor kind of issues, but nothing that we considered significant to report in the way of anything negative,'' Ed Mansfield, a project leader on the reports commissioned by the provincial government.

He said analysts will keep a close eye on some of the possible negative impacts that could manifest themselves starting this year, and after the Games are over, including the so-called "Olympic aversion'' effect that would see Whistler suffer economically, disruption to businesses and "certain types of tourism businesses.'' Critics say large sporting events like the Olympics see a spike in sex tourism in host cities.

"In this time period, 2003 to 2008, by and large the impacts were either positive or non existent. I would anticipate there to be the negative impacts would arise in our subsequent reports,'' Mansfield said.

The report said aboriginal participation has been high and Canadian sports and athletes have benefited.

The Games were touted by the B.C. Liberal government as a multibillion-dollar economic windfall for the province, but earlier this year the provincial finance minister acknowledged that the Olympics would be affected by the economic turmoil.

The government originally cited $10.7 billion as the possible economic impact of the Games. The report released Thursday found that as of the end of 2008, the events had had a median $788-million positive impact on the province's gross domestic product and generated 18,362 person-years of employment.

Mansfield said the Games were on target or above 2002 projections, except in tourism. The predicted pre-Games tourism did not materialize.

That will be tracked closely, he said.

While reiterating that the report is not a cost-benefit analysis, the report's authors noted that construction spending on venues has been "significantly more'' than projected in the 2002 report.

The federal and provincial governments welcomed the report, saying it's concrete evidence of the benefits of the Games.

"Our investments are achieving their intended results, including improved athlete performance in international competition, made-in-Canada innovations in building design, and unprecedented aboriginal participation,'' Gary Lunn, the federal minister of state for sport, said in a statement.

B.C. Finance Minister Colin Hansen acknowledged that the report does not cover this year, when B.C.'s economy slipped into recession.

But Hansen said the five years covered by the report showed Games-related economic activity was better than expected.

"It was certainly ramping up in the excess of what the original projections had been.''