United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres has warned that the organisation could run out of funds before July unless member states stop falling behind on assessed contributions or the UN fundamentally reforms its financing rules. In a letter to permanent representatives, Guterres described an escalating crisis that threatens programme delivery and could precipitate an "imminent fiscal collapse." He urged either full, timely payment by all members or structural changes to prevent a funding breakdown.
UN officials say cumulative arrears have ballooned even though more than 150 members paid assessed contributions last year; outstanding dues now total roughly $1.56 billion, about double the level of the previous year. The UN’s deputy spokesperson stressed that the shortfall creates an immediate risk of funding exhaustion if current patterns persist. Earlier Chinese and state media reports noted even larger outstanding totals reported last autumn that included unpaid peacekeeping assessments and future liabilities.
Washington has become the single largest debtor. UN statements say US payments were sharply curtailed after President Trump took office in January 2025, and substantial obligations for 2024 and subsequent budget years remain unsettled. UN spokespeople have warned that prolonged arrears expose the United States to possible suspension of its voting rights in the General Assembly under Article 19 of the UN Charter, a rarely used but real legal mechanism.
The immediate operational consequences would be severe. The regular UN budget and peacekeeping operations are financed through assessed contributions; gaps force programme cuts, delayed contracts, and dependence on voluntary contributions that are often earmarked and unpredictable. For agencies that deliver humanitarian relief, slower cash flows translate into reduced capacity to respond to conflicts, famines and refugee crises at precisely the moments demand spikes.
Beyond immediate programme impacts, the standoff exposes deeper tensions over multilateral financing. The UN’s reliance on a small number of large payers gives those states leverage over the organisation’s agenda and budget. Calls from Guterres to reform the rules reflect frustration with an ad hoc system that lacks a resilient contingency facility and depends on political goodwill to secure predictable financing.
If payments do not materialise, the UN faces a narrow set of choices: secure urgent bridge loans from member states, draw down limited reserves, ration core activities, or invoke legal mechanisms that could strip a country of General Assembly voting rights—an outcome with significant diplomatic and symbolic consequences. The crisis also provides fresh impetus for long-discussed reforms to make UN financing more transparent, predictable and insulated from short‑term geopolitics, though substantial reform would itself require consensus and time that the Secretariat says it does not have.