United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says that there is about $1.4Bn in outstanding payments fearing that the agency may enter November without enough cash to cover payrolls.
The Secretariat could face a default on salaries and payments for goods and services by the end of November unless more member states pay their budget dues in full
Furthermore, the UN has taken measures to cope with the record-level shortage of cash. In this case, vacant posts cannot be filled, travel will be limited to essential travel only, meetings may have to be cancelled or deferred, and webcasting for non-mandated events will not be available.
In October, the UN will reach the deepest deficit of the decade thus risks exhausting the closed peacekeeping cash reserves.
In 2019, managers have been instructed to adjust their hiring and non-post expenditures owing to the liquidity constraints.
The austerity measures will affect operations in New York, Geneva, Vienna, Nairobi, and the regional commission.
According to Mr. Guterres, financial constraints undermine the agency’s service delivery.
By the end of September, member states had paid only 70 percent of the total assessment for the regular budget with countries yet to pay their dues including Argentina, U.S, and Senegal.
