UN collects record $4.2 billion this year in current and back dues

The United Nations this year collected a record $4.2 billion in current and overdue payments for its regular, peacekeeping and tribunal budgets, surpassing the pervious high of $3.99 billion set in 1994.

Although the total dollar amount of payments to the regular budget dipped slightly in 2001 - at $1.04 billion compared to $1.1 billion in 2000 - peacekeeping funds saw a sharp increase compared to last year thanks mostly to the United States' payment of its arrears. A total of $2.9 billion was paid to the peacekeeping budget this year, while in 2000 the total reached only $1.6 billion.

In terms of overall payments, 135 Member States made their regular budget contributions in full this year, compared with 140 last year. The UN has 189 member countries.

Today, Sierra Leone made its full advance payments for the 2002 regular budget, bringing the total number of countries paid up in full for next year to ten.