The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has approved a budget for the UN Secretariat’s 2026 operations, following deliberations in the UNGA’s Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) that concluded on 30 December 2025. The budget “largely reflects” the Secretary-General’s proposed 15% cut in financial resources and an almost 19% reduction in staff posts.

The regular budget for 2026 will be USD 3.45 billion – USD 265 million less than the USD 3.715 billion budget proposal unveiled by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in October 2025 – and USD 270 million less than the Organization’s 2025 budget. The total budget appropriation for 2026 amounts to USD 3,450,426,300.

According to a UN release, negotiations on the 2026 budget “reflected both the ongoing financial constraints facing the Organization and the broader context of the UN80 reform initiative.” The UN80 Initiative aims to achieve efficiencies and improvements, review mandate implementation, and introduce structural changes and programme realignments.

Addressing the Fifth Committee, Chandru Ramanathan, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Programme Planning, Finance and Budget and Controller, highlighted the challenges around preparing the budget in less than six weeks and said the new budget leads to the abolition of 2,900 staff positions. He highlighted that: the UN ended 2024 with USD 760 million in arrears; as of 1 December 2025, USD 709 million was still outstanding; and the Organization had also not received USD 877 million of dues for 2025, bringing arrears to USD 1.586 billion. Ramanathan urged Member States to “send in the money as quickly as possible.”

Member States broadly welcomed the efforts to cut costs and improve efficiency. The US lauded the Fifth Committee for “embracing common sense reform and for adopting a leaner and better prioritized 2026 regular budget.” He said the US expects further “ambitious and tangible reform proposals” in the 2027 and 2028 budgets, including structural realignments, improved efficiency, and no duplication.

Angola, for the African Group, commended Member States for “the spirit of collegiality and compromise which enabled consensus on key items, led to balanced outcomes and preserved the Committee’s intergovernmental and membership-driven character.”

Iraq, for the Group of 77 and China (G77/China), said the Group worked constructively to ensure, in particular, funding for the UN’s development pillar to support the achievement of the SDGs.

China welcomed the reforms proposed by the Secretary-General, urging the Secretariat to eliminate redundancies and promote a culture of efficiency by “reduc[ing] formalism and bureaucracy and cherish[ing] the valuable resources provided by Member States.”

Japan supported the continuation of UN reform and stronger budget and fiscal discipline “not only through 2027, but also beyond.”

Presenting the budget to the UNGA, Fifth Committee Rapporteur Vadim Belloni (Chile) said the Committee convened from 6 October to 30 December over the course of 20 plenary meetings and numerous informal consultations. The size and scope of the budget, including proposed reductions in staff, the funding of special political missions, and the allocation of resources towards new reform priorities were the subject of hot debates. Concerns over cash flow, delayed or incomplete contributions from Member States, and the need to balance fiscal discipline against the UN’s operational requirements further complicated the discussions.

Having considered the proposed programme budget for 2026 by the Fifth Committee, the UNGA adopted the budget on 30 December without a vote. 

Other budget-related resolutions adopted by the UNGA on 30 December include:

Also adopted were resolutions on, inter alia: financial reports and audited financial statements, and reports of the Board of Auditors; capital master plan; programme planning; pattern of conferences; report on the activities of the Ethics Office; administration of justice at the UN; and financing of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. [Meetings Coverage, Fifth Committee: 30 December 2025] [Meetings Coverage, UNGA: 30 December 2025]