India among 34 UN members to pay regular budget dues

India is among a handful of only 34 UN member states which paid their regular budget dues in full and on time to the world organisation.

India paid 23.25 million dollars in regular budget assessments by January 31, 2019, the 30-day due period specified as per UN’s Financial Regulation rules.

Only 33 other nations paid their regular budget assessments in full within this 30-day due period. Subsequent to the end of the 30-day due period (January 31), 95 additional member states paid their 2019 regular budget assessment in full.

As of October 8, 2019, 129 member states have paid their regular budget dues in full, according to UN sources. Member states have paid USD 1.99 billion towards the 2019 regular budget assessment, while the outstanding amount for 2019 for regular budget is USD 1.386 billion.

However, 64 states are yet to pay their regular budget dues in full for 2019. These include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Brazil, Central African Republic, North Korea, Iran, Israel, Mexico, Oman, the Philippines, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, the US and Venezuela.

Read: India raises concerns over $1.3bn unpaid UN assessments

While India has been among the few countries to have fully paid its dues to the UN on time, the UN owed India USD 38 million, among the highest it has to pay to any country, for peacekeeping operations as of March 2019.

The UN is facing a “severe liquidity crisis”, reaching its deepest deficit of the decade, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said, warning that the world organisation will not have enough cash by next month to cover payrolls.

Also Read: UN may run out of money by October end: Guterres

Guterres warned that in the current month, the organization will reach the deepest deficit of the decade. “We risk exhausting the closed peacekeeping cash reserves, and entering November without enough cash to cover payrolls,” he said.