On the 17th, UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned, while submitting the proposed budget plan for 2026 to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Committee) of the General Assembly, that if member states do not pay their dues in full and on time, the United Nations will face a bankruptcy crisis.
According to China News Service, Guterres said the revised budget proposal reduces the regular budget for 2026 to $3.238 billion, a decrease of $577 million (15.1%) compared with the approved budget for 2025. The revised proposal also cuts the originally proposed number of posts from over 13,800 to less than 11,600.
Guterres said that by the end of September this year, the United Nations had received only 66.2% of the annual assessed contributions, whereas at the same time last year, it was 78.1%. Given this uncertainty in income, even with a budget cut of nearly $600 million, the UN’s deficit could still exceed $450 million by year’s end.
Guterres said, “This will exhaust almost all of our cash reserves,” and “we will also need to refund $300 million in credits to member states at the beginning of 2026.” He noted that the UN will continue to cut spending, and expenditures in 2026 will again be below the budget.
Guterres stated that the present liquidity crisis will affect not just next year, but could impact 2027 as well. The UN may have to refund $600 million in credits to member states in 2027, about 20% of the budget. He cautioned that this would mean the UN is heading towards bankruptcy. The UN must either drastically reduce member states’ arrears or suspend refunding credits.
Guterres referred to a financial improvement report released the same day. The report recommends suspending the refund of unspent appropriations to member states when funding shortages threaten the execution of the following year’s budget. He stressed that unless there is an agreement on addressing the worsening liquidity problem, the UN’s key work programs will be severely threatened.
●The United States Is the Largest "Debtor"
In the coming weeks, the Fifth Committee of the General Assembly will discuss the budget proposal with heads and program directors from various UN Secretariat departments. Afterwards, relevant reports and recommendations will be submitted to the General Assembly plenary for consideration. The budget plan is expected to be approved before the end of December.
The UN’s regular budget is funded through mandatory assessed contributions from its member states. According to UN data, as of October 15 this year, a total of 141 member states had fully paid their regular budget assessments for 2025. Currently, the United States is the largest "debtor" among all UN member states.