UN cuts next year's budget by 7% due to financial crisis
Kyiv • UNN
The United Nations has approved a 7% budget cut to $3.45 billion for 2026, which is $270 million less than the current budget. This decision is due to a financial crisis caused by US debt and involves cutting 2,900 positions.
The United Nations has approved a 7% cut in its budget compared to last year amid a financial crisis caused, in particular, by the US refusal to pay its debts. This was reported by Bloomberg, writes UNN.
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The UN General Assembly voted to adopt an operating budget of $3.45 billion for 2026, down from this year's budget of $3.72 billion, to fund administrative and operational activities.
The cut, which also includes a reduction of 2,900 positions, comes as part of the UN's attempts to save elsewhere. Earlier this month, the organization announced that it would no longer provide paper towels in the restrooms of its global headquarters in New York.
"Liquidity remains precarious, and this problem will persist regardless of the final budget approved by the General Assembly, due to the unacceptable amount of arrears," UN Secretary-General António Guterres noted earlier this month in his own proposal for a revised budget for next year. The approved budget is about $200 million larger than what the UN chief proposed.
Guterres, who had been working for several months on a financial survival plan for the UN, proposed cutting the budget by $577 million and reducing 18% of jobs. He explained the need for such measures by the arrears of past years, mostly owed by the United States.
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The US typically pays 22% of the UN's regular budget, but the Trump administration did not pay the 2025 bill of $826 million and still owes about $660 million in arrears. On Monday, the US pledged $2 billion to the organization's humanitarian arm.
President Donald Trump accused the UN of wasting taxpayer money, and US officials during his second term sought to bring the organization "back to basics."
The UN's regular budget accounts for only a portion of the total expenditures of its affiliated organizations. Agencies such as UNICEF and UNESCO are also facing financial challenges and are planning large-scale cuts.