UN Budget & Finances - Press Conference | United Nations

UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan told reporters that on Tuesday (30 Jun), the Member States approved a budget of $5.1 billion for peacekeeping, “which is about $550 million less than last year, which is a 9.7 percent reduction.” “About 1,100 civilian posts also being reduced,” he added. Asked about the two biggest financial contributors of the UN, Ramanathan said that on the regular budget, “China owes us another US dollars 428 million, which we expect them to pay maybe in September and December into installments.” “The US also was assessed US dollars 767 million. They paid 160. We've been told that they were planning to make a payment in April and July. The April payment didn't happen, so they are still telling us that the payment is on its way and we are expecting a payment.” The Controller also said, “our assumptions are based on collections from both of them, if either of them doesn't pay in time, we have a little bit of a crisis in September, but if they don't pay at all or pay a less than their original amount, then we have a little bit of a challenge at the end of the year. But even if both of them pay, we're going to end the year with pretty much our cash gone.” Ramanathan also emphasized that the new methodology “prevents a crash” but “it does not do away with all the problems.” He said, “the expectation should not be that suddenly we are in a great shape and we're going. No, we have prevented a crash. We ensure that the boat can get to the coast. It does not mean that it's strong enough now to keep sailing because it still has problems. It is still vulnerable to any nonpayment.” The UN ended 2025 with a record high of $1.6 billion in unpaid assessments, according to the Secretary-General latest report on the Organization’s financial status, issued in May. Overall arrears across the regular budget, peacekeeping and two international tribunals exceed $6.5 billion. At the beginning of this year, the UN implemented strict cash conservation measures to both reduce and slow expenditures. Until Tuesday night (30 Jun), the financial rules, established 80 years ago, required the UN to give back any unspent funds to Member States as credits against future assessments. This applied even when underspending results from late contributions or from funds that were never received.