Armenia contributes $49 thousand to UN budget

PanARMENIAN.Net - The United Nations regular budget for 2008-2009 is facing a USD 1.5 billion gap, most of which is caused by nine countries, including the United States, Britain, China and Germany, in arrears, a top official with the world body said on Friday.



Angela Kane, Under-Secretary-General for Management, told a press conference that the countries in arrears - and accounting for more than 90 per cent of the budget gap as of May 7 - are Brazil, China, Germany, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States.



The UN Controller's office listed the arrears, as of May 7, as: USD 993 million (US), USD 121 million (UK), USD 104 million (Germany), USD 53 million (South Korea), USD 33 million (China), USD 21 million (Brazil), USD 19 million (Norway), USD 13 million (Iran) and USD 13 million (Mexico).



Russia has contributed USD 29 million, Georgia USD 73 thousand, Armenia USD 49 thousand, Ukraine USD 1 million.



The remaining outstanding arrears amount to USD 85 million, according to the office.

Kane said as of May 7, 76 countries had paid their regular budget assessment in full, as opposed to 86 countries by the same date last year.



She said she understood that in the present financial and economic climate some "Member States are having a harder time meeting their financial obligations." Last December the UN General Assembly approved an almost 17 per cent increase in the current UN budget for the 2008-2009 period to USD 4.87 billion from USD 4.17 billion, including nearly USD 500 million for six months for peacekeeping operations in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region.



Kane said there had been "significant improvement" in contributions to the UN's peacekeeping budget, with two Member States accounting for 60 per cent of the outstanding arrears, and "high expectations" that the largest payments would be made very soon. In addition, 21 Member States were fully paid up on the peacekeeping budget, with the rest owing partial payments.



As for the UN's USD 1.8 billion Capital Master Plan, which includes among other items extensive renovations for the Headquarters building, Kane said 84 Member States had either paid in full or are paying on time through an installment plan, while 101 others had made partial payments.



The UN has a membership of 192 countries. The General Assembly has voted to allow seven countries to retain their voting right despite their not having paid their dues.