{"id":17235,"date":"2025-12-02T23:29:30","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:29:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/?p=17235"},"modified":"2025-12-02T23:29:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T18:29:30","slug":"un-chief-warn-as-budget-cuts-deepen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/2025\/12\/02\/un-chief-warn-as-budget-cuts-deepen\/","title":{"rendered":"UN chief warns unpaid dues near $1.6 billion, as budget cuts deepen"},"content":{"rendered":"

UN chief warns unpaid dues near $1.6 billion, as budget cuts deepen<\/strong><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

NEW YORK,: \u00a0UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres told the Fifth Committee the UN<\/a> is facing its most fragile cash position in years, despite sharp reductions already built into next year\u2019s budget plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the final budget approved,\u201d he said, pointing to the \u201cunacceptable volume of arrears\u201d owed by Member States.<\/p>\n

The UN ended 2024 with $760 million in unpaid assessments, most of it still outstanding, and has yet to receive $877 million in contributions due for 2025 \u2013 bringing total arrears to around $1.586 billion.<\/p>\n

With less than five weeks remaining in the year, only 145 of UN\u2019s 193 Member States had paid their 2025 dues in full. Key contributors such as the United States and Russia have yet to pay what they owe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have repeatedly appealed to Member States to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time,\u201d the Secretary-General said, warning that cash shortfalls are forcing the organisation to operate well below approved budget levels.<\/p>\n

The warning comes as delegations consider revised estimates for the UN\u2019s 2026 regular budget, which already reflect deep structural cuts under the UN80 reform initiative \u2013 a system-wide efficiency drive aimed at modernising operations and lowering costs.<\/p>\n

Under the revised proposal, the UN\u2019s regular budget for 2026 would stand at $3.238 billion, a reduction of $577 million \u2013 or 15.1 percent \u2013 compared with 2025. Some 2,681 posts would be cut, an 18.8 percent reduction from current levels.<\/p>\n

Special political missions would also face cuts of more than 21 percent compared with 2025 levels, largely due to mission closures and streamlined staffing.<\/p>\n

As part of the savings drive, the UN plans to consolidate payroll processing into a single global team across three duty stations and create shared administrative hubs starting in New York and Bangkok.<\/p>\n

The Secretariat is also reviewing functions that can be moved to lower-cost locations. Since 2017, lease terminations in New York have already saved $126 million, with a further $24.5 million a year in expected savings from additional closures by 2028.<\/p>\n

The plan includes one-time separation and relocation costs of $5.4 million, as voluntary exit programmes are used to limit involuntary job losses.<\/p>\n

The revised estimates have been reviewed by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) and are now before the Fifth Committee for negotiations ahead of year-end budget approval.<\/p>\n

Member States commended the Secretary-General\u2019s efforts in presenting the revised estimates, acknowledged the Organisation\u2019s ongoing liquidity challenges, and expressed support for a stronger and more agile UN.<\/p>\n

Several delegations, however, echoed concerns about the compressed timeline, warning that the late arrival of key documents is constraining full scrutiny. Some diplomats warned that proposed cuts fall more heavily on junior and general service staff than on senior posts, threatening both geographic balance and workforce rejuvenation.<\/p>\n

Others cautioned that proposed staff reductions appear uneven across the UN\u2019s three pillars, with proportionally deeper cuts to development-related programmes.<\/p>\n

The Secretary-General said he was \u201csincerely worried\u201d by that concern. He insisted that, in overall terms, the development pillar is in fact facing the smallest proportional reduction, with Africa-related programmes largely protected and the biggest cuts instead falling on support and back-office functions rather than frontline delivery.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur commitment to development is absolutely fundamental and that our commitment to the African continent is absolutely fundamental,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Final approval will require endorsement by the full General Assembly later this month.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Courtesy: APP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UN chief warns unpaid dues near $1.6 billion, as budget cuts deepen   NEW YORK,: \u00a0UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres told the Fifth Committee the UN is facing its most fragile cash position in years, despite sharp reductions already built into next year\u2019s budget plans. \u201cLiquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2299],"tags":[2729,2382],"class_list":["post-17235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-world","tag-antonio-guterres","tag-united-nations"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17235"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17236,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17235\/revisions\/17236"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}