UN will cut 2026 budget by $577m by slashing workforce

As member state unpaid dues rise to $ 1.59 trillion, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the UN’s budget will shrink by 15.1 percent and staff will shrink by 18.8 percent in 2026.

The UN chief released the budget for the following year on Monday, which he had set at $ 3.24 billion, a $ 577 million reduction from 2025.

According to a separate UN statement, the shortfall was caused by unpaid taxes from the United States, China, Russia, and Mexico as of September.

Due to the high demand in Palestine, Guterres claimed that the UNRWA budget will remain unaffected.

According to Guterres, “I made the decision to exempt UNRWA from any reductions that would have significant effects on the backbone of the entire humanitarian response in Gaza.” He added that the “Development Account and advocacy for Africa’s development” budget will remain at its 2025 level.

He said the UN will fill the void by reducing 2, 681 positions across multiple UN organizations, which “corespond to functions that, in our opinion, can be done better by others or can be reduced by efficiencies.”

According to the secretary-general, about 18% of UN posts are already vacant because of the country’s ongoing liquidity crisis, which includes unpaid member debts and other debts. He continued, “They are not necessarily related to the positions that have been targeted for cuts.”

Because of the liquidity crisis, he claimed, “Those vacancies do not correspond to a political decision based on a strategic priority, but simply by the fact that people have left and that we have the resources to pay for the replacement.”

He claimed that special political missions’ budget will be reduced from $ 149.5 million to $ 54.6% in 2026, which is a decrease from $ 149.5 million or 21.6 percent from the previous year.

Some missions will be closed, while others will be reduced, by reducing other ongoing operations.

The UN’s presence in New York, which is also among the world’s most expensive commercial real estate, has gradually decreased. This is where the UN headquarters is located.