As the United Nations faces the possibility of ending 2025 with a cash deficit, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) considered ways to surmount the looming crisis, from delaying credit returns to tackling payment defaults by the United States.
Warning of the risk of bankruptcy amid shrinking resources and growing needs, the United Nations chief today briefed the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) on the Organization’s proposed budget for 2026, outlining the funding and staffing required to maintain peace and security, protect human rights, advance sustainable development and achieve other key objectives.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) of the General Assembly on the proposed programme budget for 2026, in New York today:
No nation should be left behind due to its geography, the General Assembly heard today as it endorsed a declaration reaffirming the international community’s commitment to landlocked developing countries.
The United Nations’ cash position “unfortunately has not improved” since the last briefing in May, with 57 Member States still owing $1.87 billion out of the $3.5 billion in mandatory contributions as of 30 September — including $1.5 billion from the United States — the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved a budget of nearly $5.4 billion to cover the financing needs of about a dozen peacekeeping missions, two service centres and support staff at Headquarters from 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.
Switzerland’s representative today urged the General Assembly’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) to stay the course on the United Nations’ nearly decade-long project to renovate its historic Geneva headquarters — a call that comes as those offices, along with UN Headquarters in New York, face the prospect of relocating staff to less expensive duty stations.
As the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) continues its second resumed session today, delegates will consider cross-cutting issues under their agenda item “administrative and budgetary aspects of financing UN peacekeeping operations”.
A severe cash shortfall is forcing the United Nations to slash spending and freeze hiring, jeopardizing its ability to deliver on mandated programmes and exposing the Organization to growing reputational risk, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today, as Member States explored potential solutions to the liquidity crisis.
The Secretary-General has appointed experts to develop recommendations for measures that complement or go beyond Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is a way to recognize that GDP — relied upon as a gauge of prosperity — provides an incomplete picture of the different dimensions of sustainable development.
