Source: United Nations (video statements)
Secretary-General António Guterres today (17 Oct) stressed his “determination” for the United Nations to become more efficient and cost-effective, but said, “success also depends on Member States fulfilling their commitments.”
Presenting his proposed programme budget for 2026 to the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee, Guterres said, “ultimately, effective delivery in 2026 will depend on the timely and full payment of assessed contributions,” and lamenting that “despite earlier hopes, the downward trend of collections has continued.”
The budget proposal brings resource requirements for 2026 down to 3.238 billion US dollars, a reduction of 577 million dollars, or 15.1 percent, compared with 2025, while staffing has been revised to 11,594 posts, a reduction of 2,681 posts, or 18.8 per cent, compared with 2025.
The Secretary-General said, “today – in the last quarter of 2025 – we still have significant uncertainty about the collections for the year. And given the present level of uncertainty about the income, we could end 2025 with a deficit of more than 450 million dollars, even after reducing the spending by nearly 600 million dollars.”
He said, “this will wipe out nearly all our liquidity reserves and leave us highly vulnerable to any delays in collections next year,” and stressed that the Organization is also required to return 300 million in credits to Member States at the beginning of 2026.
Guterres noted that the UN “will again spend less than the budget in 2026 because we did not collect enough.”
This, he said, “will probably lead to a collapse of the regular functioning of our organization. And then potentially face the prospect of returning 600 million dollars in 2027 or potentially 20 percent of the budget.”
The Secretary-General said, “that means a race to bankruptcy” adding that “unless arrears are substantially reduced or the return of credits is suspended, this will constrain the implementation of the programme budget before you.”
He pointed out that his report on Improving the Financial Situation of the United Nations had proposed a mechanism to suspend credit returns whenever liquidity shortfalls threaten full budget implementation of the following year.
Noting that the Member States had not yet reached a decision on the report, Guterres said, “failure to reach an agreement on addressing the deteriorating liquidity situation could jeopardize critical elements of our programme of work” and urged them “to consider these proposals carefully and to meet their financial obligations – in full and on time.”