The UN general assembly yesterday voted to adopt an operating budget of US$3.45 billion for 2026, down from US$3.72 billion this year, to fund administrative and operational activities.
The reduction, which includes cutting 2,900 positions, comes as the UN tries to cut costs wherever it can.
Earlier this month, the organisation announced that it would no longer provide paper towels at the restrooms in its global headquarters in New York.
“Liquidity remains fragile, and this challenge will persist regardless of the final budget approved by the general assembly – given the unacceptable volume of arrears,” said UN secretary general Antonio Guterres earlier this month in his own proposal for the revised budget for the coming year. The approved budget is some $200 million higher than the UN leader had proposed.
Guterres, who has been working on a financial survival plan for the UN for months, suggested cutting the budget by US$577 million and slashing 18% of jobs.
He cited arrears from past years – most of which is owed by US – for the drastic measures.
The US usually contributes 22% of the UN’s regular budget, but the Trump administration has not paid the US$826 million bill for 2025 and it still owes some US$660 million in arrears.
On Monday, the US pledged US$2 billion to the organisation’s humanitarian arm.
Earlier, US pledges US$2 Billion to UN humanitarian affairs amid overhaul
President Donald Trump has accused the the UN of wasting taxpayer dollars, and US officials in his second term have embarked on an effort to bring the organisation “back to basics”.
“We are ‘DOGE-ing’ the UN,” US ambassador Mike Waltz said in a post on X on Dec 17, referencing the Elon Musk-led effort to slash the US bureaucracy while celebrating a plan to cut 2,600 UN jobs and 25% of peacekeepers.
“It’s time for the UN to get back to basics, stopping wars and preventing conflict, NOT funding bloated bureaucracy on the American taxpayer’s dime,” Waltz said.
The regular budget for the UN is only a fraction of the total expenditures of its affiliates.
Agencies like Unicef and Unesco face fiscal shortages of their own and are also planning major cutbacks.