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Nod for 5% increase in UN budget
Source: Agencies |
December 26, 2012, Wednesday
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THE UN General Assembly approved a budget increase of about 5 percent to cover the United Nations' regular operations in 2012-2013 on Monday, raising the two-year budget to about US$5.4 billion but delaying action on a key proposal that would allow greater mobility of UN staff.
It took the UN's budget committee until Monday afternoon to reach agreement on a host of budget-related issues after meeting all weekend. The 193-member world body finally voted by consensus on Christmas Eve to increase the budget by about US$243.3 million from the US$5.15 billion agreed on last December.
Over half of the rise is due to extra costs for some of the 33 special UN political missions which include UN envoys for Syria, Yemen, Libya and Sudan-South Sudan and operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon failed to win assembly approval for a key proposal - allowing the UN Secretariat greater flexibility to move staff from headquarters to the field. Negotiators said they came close to agreement, but the issue was delayed until the General Assembly meets again in March.
The assembly also approved new rates that all UN members pay for the regular budget.
China, Russia, Brazil and other countries with growing economies will have to pay an increased share, European Union contributions will drop, and the US ceiling for the regular budget will remain the same at 22 percent.
US deputy ambassador Joseph Torsella said the United States "is pleased by the significant progress we were able to achieve toward advancing fiscal discipline during a period of significant global financial difficulty and setting the United Nations on the path of increased efficiency."
The US is also pleased to have kept the 22 percent ceiling and to have negotiated a budget outline for 2014-2015 "that instills real financial discipline by keeping the UN budget level constant over several years," he said.
The budget includes a first-ever pay freeze for New York-based staff for six months.
It took the UN's budget committee until Monday afternoon to reach agreement on a host of budget-related issues after meeting all weekend. The 193-member world body finally voted by consensus on Christmas Eve to increase the budget by about US$243.3 million from the US$5.15 billion agreed on last December.
Over half of the rise is due to extra costs for some of the 33 special UN political missions which include UN envoys for Syria, Yemen, Libya and Sudan-South Sudan and operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon failed to win assembly approval for a key proposal - allowing the UN Secretariat greater flexibility to move staff from headquarters to the field. Negotiators said they came close to agreement, but the issue was delayed until the General Assembly meets again in March.
The assembly also approved new rates that all UN members pay for the regular budget.
China, Russia, Brazil and other countries with growing economies will have to pay an increased share, European Union contributions will drop, and the US ceiling for the regular budget will remain the same at 22 percent.
US deputy ambassador Joseph Torsella said the United States "is pleased by the significant progress we were able to achieve toward advancing fiscal discipline during a period of significant global financial difficulty and setting the United Nations on the path of increased efficiency."
The US is also pleased to have kept the 22 percent ceiling and to have negotiated a budget outline for 2014-2015 "that instills real financial discipline by keeping the UN budget level constant over several years," he said.
The budget includes a first-ever pay freeze for New York-based staff for six months.
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