United Nations chief warns may not have enough money to pay staff next month

The liquidity crunch is because some member states are yet to pay what they owe

October 09, 2019 02:22 am | Updated 02:27 am IST - UNITED NATIONS

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

The United Nations may not have enough money for staff salaries next month if member states don't pay what they owe, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday.

He told the 193-member U.N. General Assembly's budget committee that if he had not worked since January to cut spending then “we would not have had the liquidity to support” the annual gathering of world leaders last month.

“This month, we will reach the deepest deficit of the decade. We risk ... entering November without enough cash to cover payrolls,” said Mr. Guterres. “Our work and our reforms are at risk.”

The United States is the largest contributor - responsible for 22% of the more than $3.3 billion regular budget for 2019, which pays for work including political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs and communications.

Washington owes some $381 million for prior regular budgets and $674 million for the 2019 regular budget. The U.S. mission to the United Nations confirmed the figures. It did not immediately respond to a request for comment on when it might pay.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said Washington is shouldering an unfair burden of the cost of the United Nations and has pushed for reforms of the world body. Mr. Guterres has been working to improve U.N. operations and cut costs.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said so far 129 countries had paid their dues for 2019, which amounted to almost $2 billion.

Extraordinary measures

Mr. Guterres said he introduced extraordinary measures last month to cope with the shortfall - vacant posts cannot be filled, only essential travel is allowed, some meetings may have to be canceled or deferred. U.N. operations in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi and at regional commissions will be affected.

U.N. peacekeeping missions are funded by a separate budget, which was $6.7 billion peacekeeping budget for the year to June 30, 2019 and $6.51 billion for the year to June 30, 2020.

The United States is responsible for nearly 28% of the peacekeeping budget but has pledged to pay only 25% - as required by U.S. law. Washington currently owes some $2.4 billion for peacekeeping missions.

The top contributing countries are Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Rwanda. They pay their troops according to their national salary scales and are reimbursed by the U.N. As of July 2019, the U.N. paid $1,428 a month per soldier.

The United Nations says its peacekeeping operations cost less than half of 1% of world military expenditures.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.