Press Conference by Under-Secretary-General for Management

 

Despite the prevailing global financial woes, the financial situation of the United Nations had undergone an overall improvement in 2011, with all its funds enjoying positive cash balances and a drop in the debt it owed to Member States expected by year’s end, the world body’s top management official said at Headquarters today.

Speaking during her semi-annual press conference on the Organization’s financial situation, Angela Kane, Under-Secretary-General for Management, said the improvements were due to increases in both the assessed contributions of Member States and their payments to the regular budget, which had risen by $249 million and $184 million, respectively, this year.

Still, the financial indicators presented a “mixed picture”, she said, noting that overall unpaid assessments to the regular budget, peacekeeping operations, the International Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, and the Capital Master Plan had risen from $2.86 billion at the end of 2010 to $4.3 billion as of 5 October 2011.  A few Member States owed the bulk of the outstanding $3.3 billion to the world body’s vast peacekeeping operations, she added.

The United States was responsible for the lion’s share — $758 million of the $867 million, or 87.4 per cent — owed to the regular budget, she continued.  Three other countries — Mexico, Spain and Venezuela — were responsible for another 8.1 per cent, owing $40 million, $19 million and $11 million, respectively.  She commended the 18 Member States that had paid all of their assessed contributions in full as of 11 October — Australia, Canada, Cote d’Ivoire, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland and Thailand.  To maintain the Organization’s financial health, it was “as critical as ever” for Member States to pay their dues in full and on time, Ms. Kane emphasized.  “I urge all Member States to do so, while acknowledging the difficult financial climate.”

She said the cash available to the Organization at the end of the year was expected to be $244 million for the regular budget, $3.08 million for peacekeeping, $129 million for the International Tribunals and $861 million for the Capital Master Plan.  However, the final year-end outcome would depend largely on last-quarter contributions by a few Member States.  The Organization’s debt to Member States providing peacekeeping personnel and equipment was expected to amount to $448 million at year’s end, down from $539 million at the end of 2010, she said, calling the drop “a significant improvement”.  Meanwhile, outstanding peacekeeping contributions, which ran on a 1 July-30 June timetable, totalled $3.3 billion as of 5 October 2011, up $113 million from the same date a year earlier, and $843 million more than the amount outstanding at the end of 2010.

Asked why the Organization’s financial situation had improved despite the difficult global financial climate, she attributed it to the larger number of Member States paying their assessed contributions in full and on time, and to the slight decrease in peacekeeping assessments, among other factors.

Responding to a question about contributions by the United States, she said that country had paid $1.2 billion for peacekeeping operations in 2010 and pointed out that its assessed contributions accounted for 27 per cent of the total peacekeeping budget.

In response to a question as to whether the United Nations could consider reducing its budget, she said that while the budget presented by the Secretary-General included across-the-board expenditure cuts amounting to 3.7 per cent, some decisions and proposals by the General Assembly could increase the budget.  Increases of less than $20 million were expected in the areas of administration of justice and information and communications technology, while expenses for special political missions continued to rise.

Asked about the construction of a new office building in New York, she said the Organization was concerned with having reasonably-priced office space close to Headquarters when its lease with the City of New York for the DC1 and DC2 buildings expired in 2023.  The United Nations Development Corporation had approached the world body as a prospective tenant in a building it intended to construct, said Ms. Kane, adding that discussions on that matter would begin soon.

She dismissed a reporter’s assertion that the delay in installing UMOJA, the Organization’s new global integrated information management system, was due to her resignation as Chair of the UMOJA Steering Committee and the expected departure of UMOJA Director Paul van Essche.  She added that UMOJA was a very ambitious and difficult project that was proving more complex to implement than anticipated.

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For information media • not an official record