UN General Assembly Approves $3.45bn Regular Budget for 2026

The United Nations General Assembly has approved a regular budget of $3.45 billion for the 2026 financial year, following weeks of intensive negotiations among member states and amid the implementation of one of the organisation’s most significant reform initiatives, UN80, aimed at improving efficiency, accountability and cost-effectiveness across the UN system.

The budget was approved on Tuesday by the 193-member General Assembly, authorising a total expenditure of $3,450,426,300 for 2026 to fund the organisation’s core mandates and essential operations worldwide.

The approved budget covers the United Nations’ three main pillars of work, namely peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights, reflecting the organisation’s continued commitment to addressing global challenges across political, economic and social spheres.

It largely aligns with the Secretary-General’s reform proposals, incorporating a 15 per cent reduction in overall financial resources and a nearly 19 per cent cut in staffing levels, as part of broader efforts to streamline operations and modernise the UN.

The regular budget finances the UN’s core activities, including political affairs, international justice and law, regional cooperation for development, human rights promotion, humanitarian affairs and public information, and is separate from the UN peacekeeping budget, which operates on a July 1 to June 30 fiscal cycle, while the regular budget runs on a calendar-year basis.

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

“As of January 1, 2026, about 2,900 positions will be abolished, with no fewer than 1,000 staff separations already finalised, making it critical to carefully manage the transition to ensure affected personnel continue to receive their salaries and entitlements,” he added.

Ramanathan commended delegates of the Fifth Committee, the General Assembly’s main administrative and budgetary body, for steering a complex and compressed negotiation process to a timely conclusion, while also welcoming what he described as a record level of potential advance payments by member states and appealing for the prompt settlement of assessed contributions to support effective budget implementation.