UN approves two-year budget boost to $5.4 billion

PanARMENIAN.Net - The UN General Assembly approved an increase of about 5 percent to cover the United Nations' regular operations in 2012-2013 on Monday, Dec 24 evening, raising the two-year budget to about $5.4 billion but delaying action on a key proposal that would allow greater mobility of UN staff, The Associated Press reported.

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 $243.3 million from the $5.15 billion agreed on last December.

More than half the increase is due to additional costs for some of the 33 special UN political missions which include UN envoys for Syria, Yemen, Libya and Sudan-South Sudan and large 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 U.S. ceiling for the regular budget will remain the same at 22 percent.