UN faces its worst cash crisis in a decade

SECRETARY-GENERAL Antonio Guterres warned that the UN was facing its “worst cash crisis” in nearly a decade because 64 of its 193 members had not paid their dues – including the US, its largest contributor.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres had written to all members saying “the organisation runs the risk of depleting its liquidity reserves by the end of the month and defaulting on payments to staff and vendors”. By the end of September, Dujarric said, member states had paid only 70% of the total assessment for the regular budget, compared with 78% at the same time last year.

According to the UN, 129 countries had paid $1.99 billion (about R30bn) in dues for the UN’s 2019 operating budget by Tuesday. It said $1.386bn was owed for this year.

In addition to the US, other countries that haven’t paid their dues are Brazil, Iran, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Uruguay.

Because of the US government’s budget calendar, Washington usually pays its dues in October. According to the UN, the US owes $674 million for the 2019 regular budget and $381m for previous regular budgets.

The US is also in arrears in payments for the separate budget for the UN’s peacekeeping operations. It owes $255m for peacekeeping missions that have been closed and $2bn for active peacekeeping missions.

Dujarric said measures the UN Secretariat put in place early in the year to align expenditures with cash inflows had averted “major disruptions” but “are no longer enough”.

Since the UN Secretariat could face a default in salaries and payments by the end of next month, Dujarric said Guterres had requested immediate steps including further reductions in official travel and postponing spending for goods and services.

In addition, Dujarric said, events scheduled outside official meeting hours were being discontinued and conferences and meetings may have to be postponed or their services adjusted.

Guterres stressed that cash flow was a recurrent problem and the UN was now driven to prioritise work based on cash availability, thus undermining its mandates and obligations “to the people we serve”, Dujarric said. |