Facing budget crunch, UN forced to borrow from peacekeeping accounts

Facing a severe budget deficit, the United Nations has been forced to borrow from its peacekeeping accounts in order to meet regular expenses, a UN spokesman said today.

According to spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva, despite the fact that 103 Member States have paid their 2001 regular budget contributions in full, "some major contributors have paid none, or only part, of their dues, and as a result, the UN's cashflow situation is extremely precarious, with a projected cash deficit of $75 million by the end of this month."

"This projected deficit will force us to cross-borrow from peacekeeping accounts in order to pay staff salaries by the end of this month," he said.

The spokesman expressed hope that Member States would soon meet their financial obligations to the UN so that the situation could be corrected. "We are anxiously awaiting payment of past due amounts in connection with regular budget assessments, in order to avoid further cross-borrowing and to repay the amounts owed to peacekeeping as quickly as possible," he said.

Asked about the United States debt, Mr. de Almeida e Silva said that as of 15 July, Washington owed $463 million for current and past regular budget arrears. This figure "accounts for 64 per cent of all regular budget arrears," he observed.