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Press Briefing by Under-Secretary-General for Management
Pronouncing the United Nations financial health at the end of 2014 as “generally sound” and its cash position at the end of April of this year as “sound and positive”, the Organization’s senior management official told the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) today that some areas needed to be closely monitored and that Member States must make all efforts to meet their obligations.
In his semi-annual snapshot of the Organization’s financial situation, Yukio Takasu, Under-Secretary-General for Management, focused on assessment issues, unpaid assessed contributions, available cash resources and outstanding payments to Member States as he presented a detailed report on indicators at 31 December 2013 and 2014, and at 30 April 2014 and 2015.
His overview included details on the regular budget, United Nations peacekeeping operations, the international tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the Capital Master Plan account. (The Secretariat will incorporate this information into a report, which will be released for the Committee’s discussion at its 14 May meeting.)
Summing up the findings, he said unpaid assessments were lower at the end of 2014 than in the previous year in all areas except the regular budget and that cash balances were positive for peacekeeping and the international tribunals, with the regular budget cash reserves covering shortfalls. Despite that sound financial situation, it would be necessary to draw on regular budget cash reserves, both the Working Capital Fund and Special Account, during the last months of 2015. While there was an increase compared to a year ago in the number of Member States paying in full for the 2015 regular budget, unpaid assessments remained at a significant level and continued to be highly concentrated.
For the 2015 regular budget, Member States were obliged to contribute a total of $2.771 billion, an increase of $159 million over 2014. Payments received were $58 million higher in 2015 than in 2014, he said; however, unpaid assessed contributions were $1.57 billion at 30 April 2015, an increase of $175 million over the previous year.
“The financial health of our Organization depends on Member States meeting their financial obligations in full and on time,” he said, urging them to continue to endeavour to do so.
Even though the overall United Nations cash situation was currently positive for all categories at 30 April 2015, the regular cash budget was expected again to “tighten” towards the end of the year, he said. In that regard, he said the Secretariat would continue to monitor flows and ensure the prudent management of resources.
Improvements were also seen in the financial position of the United Nations international tribunals, with outstanding assessments falling to $40 million at the end of 2014, from $54 million a year earlier. Outstanding assessments on 30 April 2015 amounted to $128 million, he said, pointing out that the final outcome for 2015 depended on Member States continuing to honour their obligations to the tribunals.
The bulk of assessed contributions to the Capital Master Plan had been received, with $0.5 million outstanding from the assessed $1.87 billion special account. Thanking the 180 States that had fully paid their assessments, he urged the remaining 12 Member States to follow suit as soon as possible so “we can make clean closure of the book”. He also pointed out that the cash shortfalls since December 2014 had been bridged by the Working Capital Fund on an exceptional basis, and that the Committee had approved a $154.9 million transfer from the General Fund. Once approved transactions and transfers had occurred, the Capital Master Plan account would be fully balanced.
Turning to peacekeeping missions, which operate on a 1 July to 30 June fiscal cycle, he said the total of unpaid assessments at the end of 2014 was $1.28 billion, reflecting a significant decrease of $916 million compared with the outstanding $2.2 billion at the end of the previous year. As of 30 April, new assessments of $2.2 billion had been issued, with unpaid assessments amounting to $2 billion, he said, pointing out that challenges resulted from the differences in financial accounting periods of Member States and the timing of national legislative processes presented challenges because letters of assessment were being issued throughout the year based on the Security Council’s renewal mission mandates.
Although the total cash available for peacekeeping, including the reserve, at the end of 2014 was $4.3 billion, that amount had been segregated in accordance with the Assembly’s decision to maintain separate accounts for each operation, which specified that no mission should be financed by borrowing from other active operations. At the end of 2014, $3.84 billion was in active missions’ accounts, $294 million in closed missions’ accounts and $138 million in the Peacekeeping Reserve Fund. Despite an acceleration of payments to cover troops, police units and contingent-owned equipment, outstanding payments to Member States total $779 million, which was projected to drop to $561 million by the end of the year, he said.
The Committee also considered its agenda items on financing peacekeeping operations and related cross-cutting issues. During discussions, Member States shared their observations and recommendations, with some speakers expressing interest in the near-completed Global Field Support Strategy and others voicing concerns about sexual exploitation and abuse.
United Nations officials also introduced reports of the Secretary-General and other bodies on those subjects, containing, among other things, detailed accounts of peacekeeping budget performance in 2013/14 and proposed budgets for 2015/16.
