UN budget cut by $285 million as a result of US new funding policy

Almaty. December 27. Silkroadnews - The budget of the United Nations (UN) for 2018-2019 was cut by $285 million compared to the previous two-year cycle, the Kazakh Telegraph Agency (KazTAG) reports with reference to the UN News Center site.
“Concluding the main part of its 72nd session, the United Nations General Assembly on Sunday took a number of key actions, including approving a nearly $5.4 billion programme budget for the Organization for the biennium 2018-2019. The approved amount is $286 million (or 5 per cent) below the budget for the current two-year period 2016-2017,” the statement said. According to the U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, such a cut is the U.S. delegation’s merit.
“This historic reduction in spending - in addition to many other moves toward a more efficient and accountable UN - is a big step in the right direction. While we are pleased with the results of this year’s budget negotiations, you can be sure we’ll continue to look at ways to increase the UN’s efficiency while protecting our interests,” the US ambassador said in an official statement.
At the same time, the new budget draft presented by the UN Secretary General has already provided for a $200 million cut in expenditures.
The General Assembly adopted a budget of $5.396 billion for 2018-2019, slightly below the $5.4 billion that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had sought. The UN chief’s budget proposal was $200 million below the 2016-2017 biennial budget.
According to Guterres, over the last 17 years the UN budget has not increased in real terms despite many new tasks the organization faced. He stressed that his proposals for budget were based on the priority activities for the biennium, which had previously been approved by the General Assembly.
The UN regular budget consists of contributions by the organization member states. The scale of assessments is determined every 3 years by the General Assembly of the United Nations based on the states’ solvency, in particular, GNP index are taken into account.
The U.S. is responsible for 22% of the UN’s annual operating budget, Japan - for almost 10%, Germany - for slightly more than 7%, China - for 7.9%, and Russia - for slightly more than 3%.