John M. Goshko at the UN
A move by the United States to pay some of its back dues will keep the United Nations from plunging into the deep financial abyss that senior UN officials had anticipated during 1996.
But the US will remain the UN’s biggest debtor, and the world body still will have to borrow about $200-million to pay for its operations this year.
That was the bottom line of an update on UN finances made public this week by Joseph Connor, undersecretary general for management. He said that continued failure of member countries to pay their arrears is expected to create a $200-million dollar shortfall in the UN’s 1996 regular budget of $2,6-billion, and that will force the UN to borrow that amount from its peacekeeping account to keep operating through December.
If there was a positive side to Connor’s forecast, it was that the projected deficit is only half the $400-million shortfall UN officials had forecast at the beginning of the year. Instead, Connor’s revised estimate is that the world body will end 1996 with roughly the same $200-million deficit that it experienced in 1995 and that also forced it to take money from its peacekeeping account.
But, he warned, from the UN’s point of view, that is no reason for celebration. When the UN is forced to dip into peacekeeping funds, it must put off reimbursing countries that have contributed troops and equipment to peacekeeping operations. And, when member states are not reimbursed, there is increasing risk that they will be unwilling to take part in future peacekeeping.
According to Connor, the biggest factor in changing the arithmetic was Congress’s appropriation last week of $304-million to cover the unpaid portion of the US assessment for the UN’s 1995 regular budget. In addition, Congress earlier appropriated $359-million for US arrears on peacekeeping assessments.
Together, that is $256-million more than earlier estimates of what the organisation could expect from the US this year. In addition, Russia has promised to pay $400- million in its peacekeeping arrears during the year.
The US is supposed to pay the largest share of UN expenses. However, in recent years Congress has been reluctant to pay promptly and has tied its payments to demands that the UN eliminate waste and trim the size of its bureaucracy.
At the beginning of this year, US arrears for both the regular budget and peacekeeping were roughly $1,5-billion. Connor said the new US payments will reduce that amount to about $1,3-billion by year’s end.
However, he noted, by the end of December, the total arrears owed by all member states for dues and assessments will be $2,1-billion. – The Washington Post