PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR MANAGEMENT

Press Briefing

PRESS BRIEFING BY UNDER SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR MANAGEMENT

A contingency provision of $35 million had been included in the United Nations budget to cater for new political missions, Joseph Connor, Under-Secretary-General for Management, told correspondents at Headquarters this afternoon. It was the first time such a provision had been made.

Briefing correspondents on the new programme budget for the 2000-2001 biennium, he said that a second unusual feature in the Organization's virtual no- growth budget was a reduction of administrative costs and a reallocation of resources to the prime activities of the United Nations. Those included the maintenance of international peace and security, the promotion of sustained economic growth and sustainable development and the development of Africa.

Other prime United Nations activities, he said, were human rights promotion, the effective coordination of humanitarian assistance efforts, the promotion of justice and international law, disarmament, drug control and the fight against crime prevention and international terrorism.

Mr. Connor said that the new budget, which would amount to $2,535 million, was virtually at the same level as the one for the 1998-1999 biennium ($2,533 million). The Fifth Committee's approval of the new budget would give the Secretariat the same, or reduced, resources as it had in the 1994-1995 biennium ($2,632 million). The new budget would allow the Organization to deliver more value to Member States at about the same cost.

The Under-Secretary-General said that the budget for the 2000-2001 biennium showed remarkable financial discipline. When the Secretary-General's preliminary budget estimates had been presented to the Fifth Committee earlier this year, it had appeared that requirements for inflation would raise the budget for the new biennium by $120 million. That increase had not happened. As a result of further budgetary reductions and favourable exchange rates, it had been possible to absorb the inflation increase.

Asked whether the United States would vote for the new budget, Mr. Connor said he did not know what that country would do.

The same correspondent asked whether there was a surplus because of the recent United States payment.

He replied that the Organization's cash balance at the end of the year would be about $110 million. It was the first time in about six years that it had ended up with a plus balance. There had been no need to cross-borrow for peacekeeping to keep the regular budget afloat. That had been made possible by the level of United States contributions.

Did the United Nations still have a deficit? the same journalist asked.

Mr. Connor said the Organization owed $749 million to Member States, a figure in excess of the peacekeeping account. All of that money had been committed to paying bills in Kosovo and East Timor. That debt could only be liquidated when

Connor Briefing - 2 - 23 December 1999

arrears were paid -- principally by the United States, Ukraine and the Russian Federation.

Asked by another correspondent for the amount of money allocated for crime prevention, Mr. Connor said that it was the largest increase in the budget, up 15 per cent from the figure in the previous budget.

Another journalist asked if the peacekeeping budget had gone up.

The Under-Secretary-General replied that peacekeeping was not in the regular budget. There was an allocation of 55 posts in the regular budget for Headquarters staff doing long-range planning. There was still an unsettled cash situation in peacekeeping, and the Organization appreciated the efforts of those Member States that had made it better.

Was this budget, like previous ones described by the Secretary-General, a "starvation budget"? another correspondent asked.

Mr. Connor replied that the United Nations usually got approximately $100 million per biennium for inflation. The Organization had had to cut real resources -– an estimated $420 million over eight years – out of the budget.

A lot of cutting this year had occurred in administration, he said. But the demands on the United Nations were constantly growing. There was a shift away from administration towards the Organization's prime activities, which had all received a greater percentage. But in real terms, many of them had received nothing, while a few had received minuses.

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