Edinburgh's International Festival has been given more than £700,000 in public funds only a month after being given £1m in emergency aid.

Yesterday the Scottish Executive and the Scottish Arts Council (SAC) gave the EIF, which unveils its programme next month, £350,000, as did the City of Edinburgh council.

Jonathan Mills, the new artistic director of the festival, said he was grateful not only for the money, but that the public bodies concerned were working together to help support the festival.

Some of the new cash will be used to develop new work with Scottish artists, it is understood.

The one-off cash injection comes after the EIF was given £1m in emergency funds to pay off large deficits.

Mr Mills suggested this year's event would have been in jeopardy had the deficit not been relieved.

The festival had been £1.5m in debt until the two cash injections of £500,000, from the Dunard Fund, a private trust, and the SAC.

Last night Mr Mills said the EIF had budgeted to try to pay off the remaining £500,000 deficit as soon as possible.

The city council not only agreed to fund £350,000 this year, but for the next two years, and together with core funding and money released in response to the Thundering Hooves report, which warned of rivals to the EIF, it has committed £2.142m in total.

In addition, core funds from the arts council come to more than £1.5m, and the festival also has income from sponsorship and ticket sales.

Mr Mills said: "The nature of festivals is that you can never describe them as financially robust, they are all highly risky enterprises, because you are asking people to commit a lot of energy, resources and creativity in a very short period of time.

"What we do enjoy is the support of our funders who understand the festival in all its complexity: its cultural role, its economic role, its social benefits, its importance both locally to the city, nationally and its world-wide strategic role.

"The true robustness of this festival will be found in the long term if it responds to all these challenges."

On this year's programme, he said he had been in the job full-time for only three months, and acknowledged "teething problems".

Patricia Ferguson, the Culture Minister, said: "This funding for the 2007 festival recognises our commitment to the event and also reflects its contribution to the cultural life of the whole economy. It is important that we consider the festival's longer term financial stability with the director and other key stakeholders, as recently recommended in the Thundering Hooves report.

"We are closely examining the report's recommendations about future support for all of Edinburgh's festivals to ensure their longer term survival and international competitiveness."