While welcoming the overall sound financial health of the United Nations, delegates in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) meeting today expressed concern about the potential of the employee benefits liabilities decimating the regular budget over time should it remain unfunded.
With the capital master plan in its final phase after nearly 15 years and an investment of $2.31 billion, the United Nations must take stock of lessons learned and best practices from the ambitious Headquarters renovation effort to guide the implementation plans of other capital projects and avoid losses, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) heard today.
Amid reforms to end fragmentation of the United Nations system, it was crucial to maintain sufficient funding for the Secretary‑General’s representatives working to make the Organization’s operational activities more efficient and effective at the country level, delegates said today as the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) examined the proposed 2018‑2019 cost‑sharing arrangement and financing of the Resident Coordinator system.
Voicing alarm that the United Nations financial situation could turn dire as 2017 winds down, speakers in the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) called today on those Member States that had yet to pay their assessed contributions to the Organization to do so without delay.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today heard United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres formally present an initial budget proposal of just over $5.4 billion, before recosting, for the 2018‑2019 budget cycle beginning on 1 January 2018.
The Organization’s financial indicators for 2017 for peacekeeping operations and the tribunals remained generally sound and positive, although the regular budget cash was currently exhausted and reserves were at low levels, the United Nations senior management official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) opened a new session today with members calling for transparency and flexibility in tackling the United Nations proposed programme budget for the biennium 2018‑2019, as well as the Secretary‑General’s proposals on reforming the management of the Secretariat.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) elected Tommo Monthe (Cameroon) as Chair on 31 May 2017.
Concluding its second resumed session, the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today sent 21 draft resolutions to the General Assembly, asking the body to authorize the allocation of $6.80 billion to finance 14 peacekeeping missions for the year beginning 1 July 2017.
The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today approved, without a vote, a draft decision on the programme budget implications of a General Assembly draft resolution aimed at strengthening the United Nations system’s ability to help Member States implement the Organization’s Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
