“UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the organization is on the verge of “imminent financial collapse” and could exhaust its budget by July. The main reason for the critical situation was the refusal of the USA to pay mandatory membership fees, as well as the accumulated significant debts of this country to the organization.”, — write: www.pravda.com.ua
Source: Bloomberg with reference to Guterres’ letter to member states of January 28
Details: In his address, the Secretary General emphasized that if the trend continues, the UN’s regular budget will be depleted within the next six months.
Advertising:
The key factor in the crisis was Washington’s position. The US, which is traditionally supposed to cover 22% of the organization’s budget, stopped payments after the start of Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
According to a senior UN official, the United States already owes the organization about $1.4 billion in previous years. Added to that total is a $767 million bill for the current year. It is noted that in 2025, the White House did not pay a single cent of its obligations in the amount of 826 million dollars.
Instead of paying mandatory contributions, the Trump administration switched to selective funding of certain initiatives. In particular, in December, the US promised to allocate 2 billion dollars for humanitarian needs, but continues to ignore the debts to the regular budget, which ensures the functioning of the organization itself.
The situation is complicated by the fact that Trump publicly criticizes the UN as an institution that “failed to realize its potential” and promotes the “Peace Council” created and headed by him.
Literally: “Guterres is trying to cut costs and solve funding problems from 2024. He even launched a new initiative to reform the institution, and in December the organization announced that it would no longer provide paper towels to restrooms at its headquarters in New York to save about $100,000. The UN has already cut this year’s budget by 7% compared to last year.
However, the structural financing deficit is too large to be compensated only by internal reforms.”
Details: The fact that, after the organization’s budget is approved, unspent funds must be returned to member states at the end of the financial cycle does not contribute to solving the problem.
“The more we save, the more we are punished,” the Secretary General’s letter says.