GENEVA: The United Nations, undergoing significant reform, does not expect further budget cuts or additional layoffs as long as countries step up, a top official said Tuesday.
In March last year, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres launched the UN80 initiative to address the UN’s chronic financial struggles, which have been exacerbated by sweeping cuts to international aid by the United States and other countries.
As an initial step, the world body slashed its regular budget for this year by 9.2% compared to 2025, Guy Ryder, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Policy who is leading the reform push, told reporters in Geneva.
While that has involved cutting jobs, a lot of the reductions had been absorbed by pre-existing vacancies and “lateral movements” into jobs elsewhere in the system, he explained, adding that he did not yet have a number for how many people had left.
At the end of 2024, the UN secretariat had 35,231 staff members.
The total workforce, including affiliated personnel like consultants and temporary staff — converted to full-time equivalents –, stood at 41,999.
Ryder said the 2027 budget would “remain more or less at the same level” as this year.
The UN’s regular budget — US$3.4 billion for 2026 — is funded by mandatory contributions from 193 member states, determined by their economic heft.
But a number of countries, including the two largest contributors — the United States and China — are regularly criticised for late payments.
“At the heart of our difficulties in recent times… has been the feeling that some member states don’t believe they are bound by that obligation,” said Ryder, who earlier Tuesday had briefed UN member states about the reforms.
Ryder said he also feared a reduction in voluntary funding.
He said the situation remained “very uncertain, but we are not planning inside the secretariat to bring the budget down as we did in 2026”.
Beyond the budget and job cuts, Ryder said the UN reform process involves radically overhauling how the organisation “manages the creation of mandates, how resources are allocated and responsibilities are assigned”.
The UN was also revamping how it organises aid deliveries, he said, unifying procurement and supply chains across humanitarian agencies.
A number of agency mergers are also being discussed under UN80, including bringing together UN Women and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), and folding UNAIDS into another agency.
