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QINGDAO TODAY
在线翻译:
szdaily -> World -> 
UN warns of defaulting on staff payment
    2019-10-10  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE United Nations has an overall annual operating budget of several billion dollars, covering everything from humanitarian work to disarmament, but right now, it’s just trying to make sure its employees get paid after this month.

How did the world body end up more than US$200 million in the red?

The answer: member states who have not paid their expected contributions, including the United States.

On Tuesday, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of the “worst cash crisis facing the United Nations in nearly a decade.”

He cautioned the U.N. “runs the risk of depleting its liquidity reserves by the end of the month and defaulting on payments to staff and vendors.”

Several member states are behind in their dues payments. The U.N. will not publicly identify those countries, but sources said the main culprits are the United States, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Iran.

In all, 64 countries owe money to the U.N. Also on the list of budget delinquents are Venezuela, North Korea, South Korea, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

The last country to have paid up is war-wracked Syria, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Tuesday at his daily press conference.

In a letter sent Monday to the 37,000 employees at the U.N. secretariat, Guterres said the U.N. had a deficit of US$230 million as of the end of September.

On Tuesday, he indicated that if the world body had not taken the initiative to cut spending since the start of the year, the hole would have been even bigger in October.

In his statement Tuesday, Guterres thanked the 129 member states who have paid up “and urged those who have not paid to do so urgently and in full.” (SD-Agencies)

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