UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged countries to pay their dues and warned that the organization was on the brink of bankruptcy and could run out of funds by July.
Guterres said the United Nations faces chronic budgetary problems as some member states fail to pay their mandatory contributions in full and others on time, forcing hiring freezes and layoffs.
“Member states need a fundamental review of their fiscal rules to meet their obligations to pay in full and on time, or to prevent imminent financial collapse,” Guterres said in the letter.
The UN Secretary-General’s warning also comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration has cut funding to some UN agencies in recent months, refusing or delaying some mandatory contributions.
President Trump has often questioned the relevance of the United Nations and attacked its priorities.
Tensions between the United States, Russia and China have paralyzed the Security Council, the highest decision-making body, with all its permanent members having veto power.
President Trump launched a peace commission this month, which critics say is aimed at becoming a rival to the United Nations.
– “I can’t stand it” –
More than 150 member states have paid their contributions, but the United Nations ended 2025 with $1.6 billion in unpaid contributions, more than double the amount owed in 2024.
“The current trajectory is unsustainable and leaves the organization exposed to structural financial risks,” Guterres said.
Farhan Haq, one of Mr. Guterres’s spokesmen, told a news conference that the United Nations also faces related problems and must repay unspent funds to member states.
The Secretary-General also highlighted the problem in a letter, writing: “We are stuck in a Kafkaesque cycle, being expected to return cash that does not exist.”
“The reality is grim: the 2026 program budget approved in December cannot be fully implemented unless collections improve significantly,” Guterres wrote, adding, “Worst still, given past trends, regular budget cash could be exhausted by July.”
Guterres, who will retire from office at the end of 2026, gave his final annual address this month to set out his priorities for the year ahead, saying the world is full of “self-defeating geopolitical divisions (and) brazen violations of international law.”
He also denounced “deep cuts in development and humanitarian aid,” an apparent reference to deep cuts to U.N. agencies’ budgets made by the United States under the Trump administration’s “America First” policy.
Additional sources of information • AP
