Liquidity crunch at UN, Staff salaries at risk

Secretary General Antonio Guterres shared that the member states have only paid 70 percent of the total amount needed for their regular budget operations in 2019, creating a cash shortage of $230 Mn by the end of September.

"This month, we will reach the deepest deficit of the decade. We risk ... entering November without enough cash to cover payrolls. Our work and our reforms are at risk," said Guterres.

In addition to the salaries of the many employees at UN, operations in New York, Geneva, Vienna and Nairobi and at regional commissions will be affected. 

Although Guterres and his team have been working since January to cut spending and backup liquidity reserves were put to use, those too are set to run out by the end of this month. The United Nations might need to further cut their spendings.

As the Secretary General shared “additional stop-gap measures” will have to be taken in order to pay all salaries and entitlements. Conferences and meetings would have to be postponed, while simultaneously reducing services, saving energy, and restricting official travel to essential activities.

Guterres request to member states to increase their contribution or to give what they owe timely has not been heard yet. The liquidity crunch of the United Nations, the intergovernmental organization raises many eyebrows. It is alarming that the global organization established to protect the interests of countries across the globe and maintain international peace and security, has itself been impacted by the economic crisis many nations are going through. 

Image credits: BBC