Guterres proposes major UN budget cuts amidst deepening cash crisis

The core United Nations (UN) budget could be cut by $577 million next year under a proposal from UN's Secretary-General António Guterres, who is also seeking to eliminate more than 18% of jobs.

Guterres is seeking to improve efficiency and reduce costs as the United Nations marks its 80th year while confronting a worsening cash crisis driven largely by unpaid U.S. dues.

“We ended 2024 with 760 million dollars in arrears, of which 709 million dollars remains outstanding. We have also not received 877 million dollars of 2025 contributions, and arrears now stand at 1.586 billion dollars,” Guterres told the 193-member General Assembly budget committee.

He proposed a core budget of 3.238 billion dollars for 2026, a reduction of 15 percent compared with this year. The core budget covers the UN’s political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs, as well as communications functions.

Contributions to most UN agencies, funds and programmes, such as the World Food Programme and UNICEF, remain voluntary.

“Liquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the final budget approved by the General Assembly, given the unacceptable volume of arrears,” Guterres said.

The United States is the largest contributor to the UN’s core budget, paying the maximum 22 percent under the General Assembly’s assessment scale.

President Donald Trump has said the UN has “great potential” but argues it is not meeting expectations, and he wants to significantly reduce U.S. funding.

In March, Guterres launched a reform task force known as UN80, aimed at cutting costs and improving efficiency across the organisation.

UN peacekeeping has a separate budget. In October, senior UN officials said a quarter of personnel across nine missions would be cut because of funding shortages and uncertainty over future U.S. contributions.

Copied