UN General Assembly Approves $3.45bn Regular Budget For 2026

The United Nations General Assembly has approved a $3.45 billion regular budget for the organisation’s operations in 2026.

The approval followed weeks of intensive negotiations and formed part of one of the UN’s most significant reform initiatives, known as UN80.

The 193-member General Assembly on Tuesday authorised a total of $3,450,426,300 for the 2026 financial year, covering the UN’s three core pillars of work, including peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.

The approved budget largely reflects the Secretary-General’s proposal for a 15 per cent reduction in financial resources, alongside a nearly 19 per cent cut in staffing levels.

The regular budget finances the UN’s core activities, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights, humanitarian affairs and public information.

It is separate from the UN peacekeeping budget, which runs on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal cycle, while the regular budget follows the calendar year.

Speaking as negotiations concluded, UN Controller Chandramouli Ramanathan commended delegates of the Fifth Committee, the Assembly’s main administrative and budgetary body, for steering what he described as a complex and compressed process to a timely conclusion.

“It has been a year of challenges,” Ramanathan said, noting that the Secretariat was tasked with assembling a full budget in less than six weeks, producing hundreds of tables and responding to thousands of questions from oversight bodies and member states.

He cautioned that the adoption of the budget marked the beginning, rather than the end, of a demanding implementation phase.

Ramanathan disclosed that from January 1, 2026, about 2,900 positions would be abolished, while no fewer than 1,000 staff separations had already been finalised.

He said careful management would be required to ensure affected personnel continue to receive their salaries and entitlements during the transition.

He also welcomed what he described as a record level of potential advance payments by member states towards the 2026 budget and appealed for the continued prompt payment of assessed contributions.